Ashes of Wings
by fireangel777
Summary: It's been two years since Ember considered herself to be alive. Two years since that night where she was able to hold freedom in the palm of her hands, but at a dire price... FULL SUMMARY INSIDE :D
1. Summary

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any of the characters except for Ember, Melody, their parents, and Jake!!!**

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**Summary:**

_**(This is just a small preview of my story **__**Ashes of Wings**__**. Read it if you choose to. I'll have to admit that I'm no good at summaries :P.)**_

It's been two years since Ember considered herself to be alive.  
Two years since that night where she was able to hold freedom in the palm of her hands, but at a dire price...

Now, after living on her own while striving to survive, what will happen when strangers cross paths, lies become truths, untold secrets become known, and an almost forgotten past resurfaces?

What decisions will she make when everything, including her own life, is put on the line; when all of her skills are put to the test?

With power comes pressure and pain. With life comes uncertainty and fear.

To have anything that she could ever need and more...or to have everything that she could ever truly want.

What will you choose?


	2. Chapter 1: It's A Small World After All

_This is a Maximum Ride fan fic... actually it's a Ember fan fic. (Max is a little 'tied up' at the moment muahaha)._

Ok, so this is my very first story that I've actually _posted_ on the internet for people to see other than my friends (who are probably biased haha).  
Reviews would be very nice, considering that I've never actually done something like this before...

Funny how this all began as a little daydream written in Chemistry class :D.

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**Chapter 1: It's A Small World After All**

I leaned against the tree trunk in the shade, my 16 foot wings fully out and relaxing. The sun was shining brightly, its rays hitting the lake that I was near in all the right spots for a spectacular view. I was just finishing up my fourth double cheeseburger that a young teenage boy had so graciously bought for me.

Okay, so I had to flirt with him a little.

Anyway, I was drawing a picture of the lake view, not a care in the world. I had almost forgotten that I had escaped from THAT evil place just a mere month ago with my little sister clutched to my arms, flying for dear life and hoping that they weren't right on my tail.

Yeah, notice the almost in that sentence.

O::O::O::O::O::O

"I'm hungry," Nudge said to me _yet again_ as we flew in the sky.

"Me too," said everyone else in unison.

"I need to go to the bathroom! Hey . . . I bet it would be funny if I went in the sky!" said Total, our talking dog.

Yes, I did say talking.

"Oh, for the love of God, can we please land before Total "accidentally" relieves himself on me?!" Iggy asked as he held Total a bit uncomfortably in his arms.

"Fine, give me a second" I replied as I looked around below.

There was a little forest that could hide us well, which just so happened to be not too far from a very empty looking Wendys.

"Okay, time to land" I said as I started to spiral downward. Everyone followed behind me, keeping a look out for any signs of danger. After scouting the area, we landed in a high tree near some bushes. "There's a lake we can wash up in" I said, keeping my wings out as I jumped off of the tree branch.

"Finally! Land!" Total said as he jumped out of Iggy's arms.

"Race ya' there!" yelled the Gasman, and they were all off. I, unfortunately, had to stay with Total while he took his grand time sniffing trees to find the right one. When he did his business, he looked up at me with a relieved smile on his face.

"Much better" he sighed. I rolled my eyes at him.

"That wasn't necessary. I'm pretty sure none of these trees have been used by anyone else recently" I said.

"You never know! And besides, why would I just go on any tree like a barbarian? What kind of dog do you think I am?! It has to have the right texture and size. I personally prefer maple and palm trees, but are we ever _near _maples and palm trees? Noo . . . " Total began. I tuned him out, wondering why we even decided to get a dog, much less an annoying talking one.

Oh yeah, because of Angel.

_And speaking of the flock, why don't I hear splashing noises? The lake isn't too far off . . . _I thought to myself, now a bit concerned.

I guess Total picked up on it too because he stopped mid sentence in his rant, looked around and asked, "So where'd the rest of them go?"

_That's just what I'd like to know . . . _I thought as I started speed walking in the direction that they went in.

_Fang, you should come and see this..._I heard Angel say to me in thought. My mind went on overdrive as I let Total jump into my arms and rushed past the trees, my inner G.P.S. leading me right to them. I almost tripped over them; with the speed I was going and how they were crouched down, hiding behind the bushes, looking intent and curious.

Well, Gazzy looked more mischievous than anything, but still.

"What are you . . . " I began, and got myself shushed by everyone and yanked down to the ground by Nudge's hands.

"Be quiet! There's a girl over there!" said Nudge quickly before going back to her spying.

Most people would think, "A girl? What's so special about that?" and would get up and walk right up to them. But of course, we have to be different. The mutant bird-flock children HAS to be different from other people in order to survive. That would probably explain why I was on full alert right now as I also peered through the bushes.

And I saw her.

Sitting there under a tree with a book and pencil in her hands, her eyes roaming over the land in front of her, as if she was taking it all in. She was a bit lighter than Nudge in skin tone. Her slightly wavy hair came down to her shoulders in a not-so-straight-but-it-looks-good-on-you kind of cut, as if she had done it herself, which she probably did. She looked like a regular teenager with her low tan cargo pants and her tight black shirt that showed a little of her belly. If she was, we probably would've scurried as far away from her as soon as possible so she wouldn't see us when we flew away.

But she wasn't a regular teenage girl.

She had wings.

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	3. Chapter 2: The Improved Gingerbread Man

**Chapter 2: The Improved Gingerbread Man**

I could tell that I was being watched. It annoyed me. The feeling made my hair stand on end. But for some reason, I just sat there. But they really did a horrible job of hiding where they were. First, they almost barged right into the field from the forest after screaming and yelling. At first, when I heard them, I pulled my wings in quickly and tried to act normal. Well, as normal as a bird kid can act. But the day was too hot, and my wings still wanted to feel the sun, so I let them out just a little bit, but not enough that a human could see them from a far distance.

_What do I care? They're just humans. They would be in awe, maybe take some pictures, and be on their merry way. So why am I hiding it? Oh yeah, that's right. I would be on the run . . . yet again. But it's not like I have anything more to live for . . . _I had thought to myself.

But this, this was just too much. They weren't even taking pictures. They were just sitting there . . . watching! I was about to leave when I heard a voice.

"What are you . . . " and then a rustling sound. I heard a lot of shushes going on before I heard,

"Be quiet! There's a girl over there!" I chuckled to myself. Regular humans wouldn't have been able to hear what was being said between them from where I was sitting.

Of course, they wouldn't know that I'm only 98% human. Sometimes these things really did come in handy.

"Do you think she saw us?" asked a voice, most likely a girl.

"If she did, she's a really good actor" said another; a boy, sounding close to the age of the first voice.

"Angel, see if you can get anything from her" said another voice; another guy, but this one sounding as if he was in charge.

_Fat chance that they're gonna steal anything from me, _I thought as continued drawing, keeping my ears alert. But they didn't move. I waited and still nothing happened. _How are they going to attempt to steal anything if no one makes the first- _I started to think to myself.

But suddenly, something felt odd; out of place. As if something was entering my mind.

"She seems nice enough, but she's alert. She knows we're here. She thinks we're going to try and steal something from her." I heard a little snicker and clenched my jaw.

So they had a mind reader.

Well, crap.

I didn't want her probing my mind and announcing it to the whole world, so I let my mind wander a bit before shutting it down completely, blocking her out of my thoughts. I heard a gasp and several people cry "Angel."

_Ah, so there's more than four people . . . _I thought to myself as I closed my book. I was beginning to get a little anxious. My odds were looking bad, especially if all of them had powers like that girl. Which meant that none of them were ordinary humans, if humans at all.

"What happened?" I heard a voice ask.

"She blocked me out her thoughts" said the girl incredulously.

_Yep, it's definitely time to end this, _I thought as I calmly put my stuff in my bag. It was only then that I decided to glance at the now standing intruders. Three boys, two girls, and a dog.

But they all had wings.

Well, except for the dog.

I sighed and stood up, brushing dirt off of my pants.

"Great, just my luck" I mumbled. It was then that I disappeared, leaving only a mirage of myself behind.

I was already more than half way across the lake before I heard the sound of wings flapping behind me at an incredibly fast rate. I looked behind me and they were right on my tail.

"Damn it . . . " I muttered to myself as I made a nose-dive down toward the lake. I could control the water, so it's needless to say that it was easy to raise the water and form a wall of very thick ice. They all dodged it but some of the ice shards that I threw at them right after it had cut them.

_Jeesh, don't they know that it's quite annoying to follow strangers around? _I thought to myself as I ducked into the forest, hoping to lose them. I turned my body sideways and flew in and out from in between trees, but it looked like they had just as much practice as I had.

And then I heard it.

_Run into that tree and knock yourself out. _

I heard the thought in my head and almost instantly, my body swerved on its own. I was on a one way train toward a huge oak tree, and I couldn't stop myself.

_Crap, she can control minds, too! This is gonna hurt . . . _I thought to myself.

And then everything went blank.

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	4. Chapter 3: Nice To Meet You, Hostage

**Chapter 3: Nice To Meet You, Hostage**

"_Don't let go, ok?" My hand desperately held onto the small delicate hand in mine. _

_"Don't worry, we'll get somewhere safe," I replied frantically, trying to remember to flap my wings. Then she screamed and I looked down at her, almost forgetting to flap. _

_Almost. _

"_Something just tried to grab my leg! Fly higher!" she yelled, terror in her eyes as she looked at me. It was hard enough to fly for the first time in my whole entire miserable existence without having to carry her weight AND be criticized about my flying. _

_"This is as high as I can go!" I screamed back, my mind racing. Suddenly, I was tackled from above. I let go of her hand and heard her scream as she plummeted down to the ground. "MELODY!" I called after her. _

_My sister. _

_I felt something hit me in the back of my head, and before I realized it, I had fallen right into darkness._

O::O::O::O::O::O

I began to wake up to a weird sensation.

OK, sensation, no.

More like an annoying pain on my forehead.

"Is she awake yet?" I heard a voice say.

"Don't think so" said another voice.

"Maybe we should dump water on her or something" said another.

I groaned slightly so that they would stop contemplating. I opened eyes slowly, trying to remember what had happened, and saw six faces staring at me.

"She's awake" said the boy nearest me, the one with the short spiky blond hair.

"Who are you?" asked a girl, her skin just a bit darker than mine. Instead of answering her question, I looked at my surroundings and analyzed them a bit. My hands were tied behind my back, the knife that I always carry around with me in my back pocket was gone, and I was still in the forest that I ran into that tree . . .

_Oh yeah, I bet the girl that can mind read is still here . . . _I thought to myself as I closed my mind. The girl with the slightly curled blond hair frowned a bit and looked in my direction.

_That's her . . . so she must be Angel . . . _I thought.

"Where's my bag?" I asked.

"Over there," said the boy with the black hair.

"We raided your stuff. Thanks for the free food. Hope you don't mind" said another boy with a smirk. He looked blind, but the way his ears pricked up ever so slightly when he heard something told me that he could identify more things than I could see.

"Oh, of course not. Feel free to take all of my food" I said sarcastically. He frowned slightly, I guess feeling a bit guilty, and chewed a piece of the granola bar that he was eating.

"Why are you here?" asked the dark-haired one, who glanced at me. I looked toward the lake. The block of ice was still there and the sun wasn't as high as it was the last time that I was conscience. It still looked like early afternoon.

"Are you guys taking me back to the School?" I asked as I looked at them again. The blind kid, the black girl, the blond-haired kid, and Angel cringed, the black-haired guy balled his hand into a fist, and even the dog sat up and looked at me with fear in his dark brown eyes.

_Just as I thought; these kids are runaways from the School. There's no way they would be working with the whitecoats, _I thought to myself. I brought my tied hands from behind my back and stood up.

"Well then, now that that's settled, I'm just gonna take my bag, grab some fish, and be on my merry way" I said as I walked toward my bag. I opened it just to see if they took anything of importance, but had some difficulty because of my hands. I looked back at them with a gleam in my eyes when I noticed that something was really missing. "Where's my laptop?" I asked calmly.

"Oh, this one? The one you most presumably stole?" said the dark-haired kid with a smirk.

"Yes, that one. Can I have it back, please?" I said, still keeping my calm.

"No. It might be useful to us" said the boy. He was really starting to tick me off.

"How can you use it when you can't even get the password?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Nudge" he said as he tossed it to the black girl. She caught it but almost dropped it in the process, which almost gave me a heart attack. That was the laptop that I stole directly from the School grounds. It had info about Itex and all the other things that I could possibly need. But I almost got captured again when I went back to the School to get in the first place. I don't think I would have the guts to go back and get another one.

The black girl; Nudge is her name I guess, turned the computer on. Everyone gathered around her. I leaned against a tree trunk and smirked, allowing them to try.

I could've taken my laptop back at that moment. I really could. But why have an audience if you weren't going to entertain them? I heard Nudge put her fingers on the keyboard and started to type away. Soon after, I heard the wonderful sound of the system locking her out.

"Nudge, why couldn't you crack it this time?" I heard the blond-haired kid ask.

"I don't know, Gazzy. She must have changed the passwords or something, because these are all wrong" said Nudge. Everyone looked at the black-haired kid, who was looking at me, who was looking back at them with a smirk on my face.

"Told ya' so" I said. "Now if you would be so kind as to . . . "

"No" replied the boy. He stood in front of the laptop.

Really, really, REALLY starting to piss me off.

"You saw it for yourself, you can't use it, now GIVE IT BACK!" I said, my voice rising.

"No" he replied simply, crossing his arms over his chest.

As if that would stop me.

I got into his face, not even the least bit intimidated by him because I was almost as tall as he was.

"Give . . . it . . . back . . . now . . . " I said, emphasizing every word. He was lucky my hands were tied or I would've strangle him.

_I mean, I could strangle him now but it wouldn't be as effective . . . _I thought to myself, my fists clenching and unclenching. The boy lowered his eyes into a slight glare.

"Make me" he said in a voice that I guess was supposed to scare me. I was just about to strike him across the head when an idea came to me.

"Fine, since you can't work the laptop, and it IS mine, I won't leave until I get it back" I said, grabbing my bag. I would just haveto wait until the girl . . . Nudge, finally gave up and brought it to me. I felt a slight wind blow and I made it sharp enough to cut through the rope holding my hands together. I heard a "Woah" and someone whistle behind me as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

"Hey!" I heard someone call. I turned around just in time to see the small dog run up to me. "Since you're staying for a while, could you bring me some fish? These people don't feed me enough" said the dog. I noticed everyone's eyes role and I couldn't help but smirk.

"A talking dog. Now I've seen everything" I mumbled. "I'll see what I can do" I walked toward the lake, my mind slowly tinkering.

_My days have gotten a bit interesting,_ I thought to myself with a small smirk.

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	5. Chapter 4: Awkward Moments

This chapter took so long for me to write but I knew I had to get it over with if I wanted to get to the good parts, so here it is.

Hope you enjoy. Don't forget: reviews would be awesome!

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****Chapter 4: Awkward Moments **

"What now, Fang?" Iggy asked me after that girl had gotten quite far away from us.

"We have to watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything funny" I said as I returned to the rest of the flock.

Nudge was hovering over the laptop, looking really frustrated. "She must have modified it or something, but I don't see how she can if she doesn't even touch the keyboard to go on!" said Nudge. She fell on her back, her eyes closed and her arms spread out.

"Keep trying. I'm sure you'll get it soon" I said. The only reason why we even attempted to take her computer was because I had a very good feeling that it contained very important Itex related things that would take us months to get. How she got her hands on it, I don't know. But it would be very useful to us.

"Iggy, Gazzy, Total, go find some firewood. Don't blow up anything this time. Angel, you get anything yet?" I asked as I took a seat next to her. She had been unnaturally quiet since we captured that girl.

"She keeps blocking me out. She's not faltering at all. The only thing I got from her was when she was knocked out. She seems just like us. I think she had a sister, but she lost her near the School" Angel said. She shivered as she remembered her time at the School.

It wasn't like a basket full of dull roses.

It was more like Hell packed up and moved from the Underworld to that place.

I clenched my jaw, trying hard not to remember the dog cages, the unimaginable torture, the failed experiments dying right and left . . . yeah, not doing too well in the remembering section.

"Keep a close eye on her" I said as I stood up to go help Nudge as best as I could. I only glanced back once to see the girl, her hair seeming to shimmer in the dimming sunlight, the water splashing around her as she caught some fish. Her head swivelled in my direction and I quickly turned my head around and continued to help Nudge with the computer.

By the time she came back, Iggy, Gazzy, and Total had already come back with firewood and had started a small fire. We were putting random things that I had in my bag on clean and stripped sticks and roasting them over the fire.

"YOU'RE BACK!" Total yelled as he rushed to the approaching figure. The girl had three makeshift baskets woven out of twigs; one in her left and right hand, and her mouth. Where she got them from or how she made them, I would never know. She put the two in her hands down on the ground and took the last one out of her mouth. She smiled warmly at Total. "Is all of this for me?" asked Total.

"Definitely not. But you get first dibs" she said as she bent down. "OK, so you're a dog" she said.

Total scowled and puffed up his chest. "I prefer 'smart canine', thank you very much" said Total proudly.

She chuckled slightly. "And a smart canine like yourself must have a name. So what is it, oh smart canine?" she asked. I could tell there was a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"It's Total . . . " he said, sounding off, as if he was shocked.

"A very smart name for a very cool dog" she said as she put her hand behind Total's ear and started to scratch. I swore that Total literally became putty in her hand, the way he melted to the floor with his tongue hanging out and his tail wagging like a maniac.

She looked up from Total with a small smile. "Angel, could you take this one? I got some for the rest of you . . . in case you wanted some" she said as she stood up. Everyone looked toward her, thinking the same thing.

"How do you know my name?" Angel asked cautiously. The girl shrugged a little.

"I heard it being said earlier and guessed it was you. I pick up on names pretty quickly" she said, as if it wasn't a big deal. Angel looked at Total, who seemed content beyond words, and back to the girl. "If you don't want it now, I'll just leave it here" said the girl as she picked up her basket. Her eyes seemed to linger on the flames before she turned away and walked to a different tree away from our makeshift camp.

"What just happened?" asked Nudge, confusion clearly scribbled on her face.

"I'll tell you what happened! I just found a new best friend!" said Total, grabbing some fish from the basket into his mouth and bringing it to the fire. My eyes shifted to the flames while my mind drifted, trying to comprehend what I had just witnessed when I swear I saw a spark float out of our fire to the girl's sticks that she had gathered. The spark landed and suddenly, she had a huge flame, higher than even her own head.

"Fang, you OK?" Nudge asked, noticing the way I spaced out.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I said, grabbing a fish and putting it on a stick.

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	6. Chapter 5: Life Has Its Ups and Downs

**Chapter 5: Life Has Its Ups and Downs...Mostly Downs**

I sat there, finally full after eating more than half of what I had caught.

_They don't trust me at all, which is fine with me. I just want my computer back, _I thought to myself as I absentmindedly doodled in my notebook. I heard the dark-haired boy say, "OK, guys. Time for bed." I stole a glance at them and saw that they were stacking their fists together, like a mini tower, before they curled up in their spots. I was a bit confused, but I went back to my drawing.

_They seem really close . . . like a family . . . _I thought to myself, allowing my mind to wander. Minutes later, I snapped back into reality, looking at my dying campfire. I glanced down at my drawing, only to catch my breath in my throat. On the page was a detailed picture of a growing flame; below that were musical notes.

_Ember and Melody . . . my sister . . . _I thought to myself in misery. I closed my book and looked up at the stars until my vision became blurry. Tears were quietly streaming down my face, but inside, I was having a mental breakdown, screaming inside.

_Everything that I had to live for . . . everything that made me happy . . . she's gone because of me . . . because I had to be Ms. Butterfingers at the worst possible time . . . _I told myself. I made sure that none of the others heard me during my random pity-fest . . . or at least I tried to.

After what seemed like eternity and a half, I think I fell asleep, because when I opened my eyes, the stars were gone and were being replaced by the sounds of chirping birds in the early morning. I looked around and saw that the others were still sleeping. The little girl, Angel, looked a bit troubled. I stood up, feeling really stiff from sleeping upright against the tree. My eyes felt puffy, as if I had truly been crying for hours on end.

_That's pathetic . . . hopefully no one witnessed that . . . _I thought to myself as I stretched my limbs. And that's when I heard my stomach growl. I rolled my eyes.

_Fine time for me to get hungry. What if they wake up, decide to leave, and take my computer with them? _I thought to myself. I looked around quickly; even though it was really dark, I could see perfectly with my enhanced bird-kid vision. They seemed as if they wouldn't wake up for another couple of hours . . . even I was surprised at myself that I was up so early. I went into my bag and grabbed the wallet that held several credit cards that I had obtained.

_I guess it wouldn't hurt to get something to eat . . . _I thought as I spread my wings out quietly and shot up into the sky, loving the way the air felt under my wings as I flew toward food.

O::O::O::O::O::O

I woke up to someone shaking me very hard. I shot up from the ground, my eyes alert, my muscles tense, only to lay my eyes on Iggy.

"What?" I asked, only wishing he could actually see the death glare that I was giving him for waking me up.

He smiled at me, as if he hadn't done anything wrong at all. "Thought you might be hungry" he said as he pushed three bags of McDonalds at me. I blinked once, really surprised, before taking them.

"Where did you get these . . . ?" I said, looking in each bag.

"They were just sitting there when we woke up" said Iggy as he stuffed another handful of french fries in his mouth and walked over to Gazzy and Total. I looked around quickly, seeing that the flock was already enjoying their three bags or more of their breakfast. I brought my gaze toward the tree that the girl was sleeping under and instantly realized that she was in the tree branch, her back facing us, eating three bags of food herself.

"Fang?" I heard a small voice call to me. I glanced down at Angel, my mind working a mile a minute.

"Yeah, Angel?" I asked, putting the bags of food down, even though the smell was so enticing.

"She stopped trying to protect her mind; she thinks it's too much of a hassle to keep it up forever" Angel said.

I was slightly surprised, but tense. I could tell that there was more that she wanted to say; there was a slight frown on her face. "What is it?" I asked. Angel bit her bottom lip and hesitated, but she spoke.

"When she sleeps . . . when she dreams . . . I can feel all of her pain, and it hurts . . . " she whispered, drawing in a staggered breath.

My hand clenched beside me; we've been through a lot in our short lifetimes; betrayal, witnessing death, broken bones, mostly ribs and arms . . . it takes a lot to make us cry, especially Angel. But for her to go through this . . . for her to almost breakdown crying . . . it must be really bad. I bent down to her level, my eyes meeting hers, and put my hand on the top of her head.

"You can stop. I just needed to know if she was a threat to us" I said. She nodded and gave me a small smile before walking away toward Nudge, who had gone back to tinkering with the laptop. _Why does everything have to be so difficult?! _I growled to myself as I stood up again and went back to my food.

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	7. Chapter 6: Let's Go To Camp

**Chapter 6: Let's Go To Camp**

Day six of camp "Let's Ignore the Bird-Girl Who We Stole the Laptop From!"

Great. Just great.

My daily activities were writing diary entries into my book, drawing pictures, catching fish for breakfast to last everyone until the next day, and amusing myself as I watched the rest of them try to get past the password stage. I had learned everyone's names at this point, although I had never told them.

I was sitting near the lake, drawing a picture that interested me at the moment when I heard Total near the group hovered around my laptop . . . yet again.

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" Total yelled angrily, and five bird-kid heads looked at him. I only smirked, knowing that he had snapped, but was caught off guard when I felt him sit next to me. I looked at him, astonished, as he put his head in my lap. "I'm so bored! They do nothing but sit around that computer ALL DAY! No one pays any attention to ME!" he said, venting his anger. I smiled, scratching behind his ear the way he liked it. After a while, he glanced at me, enjoying his scratch too much to actually sit up. "This may sound weird, but I don't know your name yet" he said. I sighed, contemplating whether or not to tell him.

"Ember" I replied silently.

He went quiet for a minute before actually sitting up.

"Why did you tell me and not them?" he asked, cocking his head slightly.

I let a small smile escape me; he was just so cute. "I guess I have a soft spot for animals" I said, and Total frowned.

"I am not an animal. I'm special! You're lucky I don't bite your hand right now" he said, a low growl forming in his throat. I chuckled.

"You only like me because I bring fish for you and your friends every day" I said, amusement on my face.

"Whatever" he replied, putting his head back on my lap.

We talked for a while; him about his friends and their adventures mostly. He asked me questions, too, but nothing too personal. I guess he noticed how closed off to everyone I was. It was near sunset when he sat up again, yawning. "Can you please just unlock the laptop so that they can stop obsessing over it? It's really annoying" Total said. I laughed, then stopped when he gave me a pleading look.

_God, he's using those eyes at me . . . _I thought to myself, biting my bottom lip. Why was I still keeping the laptop on lock-down? Sooner or later I would have to use it to see if Itex was up to something new. "Did they send you over here to persuade me or something?" I asked, half-jokingly.

"No, but I know that they'd want me to ask. They want to get revenge, too. We all do . . . " he said. I sighed again.

_Stupid soft spot . . . _I thought to myself. "Fine. I'll do it. But not tonight" I said, going back to my drawing. He sighed, and I could see a content little smile on his face as he closed his eyes. Before I knew it, Total was snoring in my lap, his paws twitching every once in a while. _He really is a cute dog . . . no wonder they keep him around . . . _I thought to myself before I saw Nudge stand in front of me.

"Hi" she said, which was the shortest sentence I had heard her say since I was with them.

"Hi" I responded, my eyes glued to her. I could tell that she was feeling very uncomfortable. And I could feel someone staring at me from the group, although I didn't see who it was. _What's up with people coming up to me tonight? _I wondered, watching Nudge as she sat beside me. There was a moment of silence before she erupted.

"OK, so I tried really hard to try and get into your computer but I can't for some reason, even though I can feel the passwords that you put in before, but none of them work at all. So you must be, like, a super computer wizard or something and I was just wondering if you do decide to unlock it if you could tell me . . . or maybe show me how you did it or whatever . . . " Nudge said, not even seeming to take a breath. She seemed excited and nervous at the same time, as if she stumbled on a great discovery but was afraid to mess with it.

On the outside, I had a calm but slightly perplexed look on my face, but on the inside, I was truly speechless. No one had ever asked me to help them before, much less teach them. I also gave myself a mental pat on the back for taking the precaution of not letting my hands touch the keyboard. But then, a little sadness swept over me, and I had to look away from Nudge's eager face and start drawing again.

"I already told Total that I'd unlock the computer tomorrow . . . but, I'm sorry . . . I can't teach you anything. That thing that I do...I just came with it; that's how I was 'made' " I said. Her face fell slightly, and I felt crushed that I had made her look like that. _Great, so not only do I have a soft spot for animals, I have a soft spot for sad puppy dog eyes . . . _I groaned to myself, trying to concentrate on my drawing.

Suddenly, Nudge was looking over my arm as she moved closer me.

"That's a nice drawing" she said, looking at my book. My muscles grew tense; no one had ever seen the inside of my notebook, and just a brief glance from Nudge made me want to throw her into the lake and freeze her there.

_Calm down . . . it's just a drawing . . . _I said to myself, my muscles loosening a little.

"That looks like Angel, and Total, and Iggy . . . " Nudge said, pointing to the figures on the page.

"It's not done yet" I said, putting in another head into the picture.

"Are you going to draw all of us?" Nudge asked, looking in the direction of the group.

"Yeah, I guess I am" I mumbled, remembering that Total was still sleeping on my lap. "Maybe when I'm done, I'll let you see it . . . " I said, looking at her. She turned her attention to me and her face lit up.

"That would be awesome! Make sure to make me look good, like, REALLY good. I mean, unless you can't, at least make my stick figures look decent, like a goddess or something. That would be so cool" she said, her mind already fluttering around the idea. I chuckled and stood up with Total in my arms and my notebook in my hand, just realizing how dark it was by the way the fire that the flock had started illuminated.

"I'll see what I can do" I said, walking with her back to the "camp".

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	8. Chapter 7: Getting Acquainted

**Chapter 7: Getting Aquainted**

It's been a week since the girl, now known as Ember, started hanging out with us. The flock seems to like her a lot, especially Angel, Gazzy, and Total. They basically cling to her; going flying with her, learning tricks to make them better flyers. I often watched them, just out of curiosity. But sometimes, I'd catch myself staring at her; the small smile that would appear on her face, the glint in her eyes that she would get when she watched the others fly. I would notice her glance at me a few times, but she always looked away without a hint of an expression on her face. Angel still kept a loose watchful "eye" on Ember's thoughts, and it seemed that she was opening up a bit, even though there were some parts blocked off to Angel. Of course, when she brought this to my attention, I started to wonder what went through Ember's mind when she sat alone with her head in that notebook.

_It's too quiet, so now you have too much time on your hands . . . _I thought to myself as I watched the rest of the flock getting fish. I glanced at the computer, took a deep breath, and walked toward the tree that she was in.

"Yes?" she asked without looking up from her book, as if she could hear every step that I took.

Which is really hard to do.

Even Iggy has a hard time trying to pinpoint where I am at times, and he's the listening master.

"Could you turn on the computer . . . " I mumbled, looking at her fully extended wings; the dark golden brown feathers gently merging in with the darkening red, like raging flames, and then settling into a midnight black at the tips, as if the smouldering flames gave way to the overclouding smoke.

Her wings were so majestic, so beautiful, so mesmerizing, and when she flew ever so gracefully, she held them up proudly . . .

_Stop that! _I thought, mentally giving myself a slap across the head.

She finally glanced at me from over her shoulder and in seconds she was in front of me, her wings curling under her shirt. I blinked once,trying to keep the shock from my face, but she was already at the laptop by the time I had composed myself. I watched silently behind her as she typed in a password on the keyboard. The screen came to life with a background of a group of kittens staring back. I raised my eyebrows and stifled a laugh.

"Shut up" she said, a threatening tone entering her voice. I silenced myself as she opened up a file that said "hell". More files flashed on the screen, each having something to do with Itex. "I'm guessing this is what you wanted to see..." she said, looking at me as she stood up. I nodded to her before planting myself in front of the laptop; scanning, reading, and memorizing anything and everything that would be useful to use.

"Hey" I heard her mumble beside me. I looked up at her, noticing how tense she was; how her jaw clenched and unclenched. "I don't know about you, but this is the longest that I've gone without seeing _at least _one sign of an Eraser. They could be up to something..." she said before she walked away towards her bag and grabbed something out of it;it looked strangely like an Ipod.

_She's right. This week has been way too quiet. I thought it was just me on edge, but she can sense it, too. Iggy isn't not too worried about it, but he knows something's wrong... _I thought to myself.

And that's when my eyes landed on her notebook; the thing that she never let out of her sight was laying half opened on the branch where she was previously.i I looked around and saw her down by the lake,watching the flock with Ipod buds jammed into her ears.

_This could be my only chance..._ I thought as I rushed up, quickly grabbed it, and went back to the laptop. I took a deep breath, as if expecting something to jump out at me and rip my head off. When I opened it, I realized that it was more a diary than anything. I read the very first entry to myself.

_"Date: I don't know. _

_Time: Can't tell. _

_Dear diary,_

_Been about two weeks since I escaped from hell. Can still see images in my head every time i close my eyes. Picked up this pen. Realized I could write with it. Can't exactly read what I'm writing. My thoughts. Can't find my sister. Lost her during escape. I cry every day. Learning to garbage. McDonalds. Ate food. Tasted bad, but I ate. Really hungry. Head hurts. Sleep."_

I skipped through most of the first couple of pages, either because the writing looked like chicken stratch or the language was so bad that i couldn't even understand it. But as i got farther into the middle, I started seeing drawings;beautiful drawings that captured a scene and made me feel as if I was actually there. I decided to read one of the more recent entries, just for kicks.

_"Day? Don't know._

_Iime? Night._

_Place? Woods maybe, near a beautiful lake._

_Dear diary,_

_First, I was watched, then my mind was manipulated by a little girl, and now my head hurts! And yet this girl, I guess her name is Angel, she's trying to read my thoughts! It's bad enough that she made me run into a tree...oh yeah, did I mention that she can manipulate and read minds? Yeah well, with my head already hurting, it's really hard to concentrate on keeping my mind shut off from her. _

_But joy, she's not the only one!_

_There's her, another girl who's a bit darker than me, a blind boy who looks like he could find his way anywhere, a smaller boy who looks to be related to Angel, and a boy my age with dark hair (who I have to admit has some charm to him) but that's not the point. The point is THEY TOOK MY LAPTOP AS A FLIPPIN' HOSTAGE! _

_Well...technically, it's not mine, but I stole it from the School and I claimed it, therefore IT'S MINE! (I also don't like the idea of going back there again to get another one so yeah...). _

_The only amusing thing about this is when they tried to sign in. The black girl, Nudge, she almost went crazy trying to figure out the password. _

_Teehee! They don't know that I change the password on a regular basis. It's still a good thing that I took that precaution and decided not to type using my hands. It seems that Nudge can sense peoples' feelings or whatever. _

_And here's the best part. _

_They have a talking dog!"_

My mind whirred with thoughts as I flipped through some more pages.

_How could she change the password without using her hands? _I thought to myself as I looked through some pictures of the flock,which were amazing. Angel petting Total, Iggy and Gasman doing a cannonball into the lake with their wings extended, Nudge looking quite stuffed after eating more than half a basket of fish, and finally, a picture of me,sleeping against a tree trunk one night around the fire. I fought back a fluttering in my stomach as I looked at another picture of me, looking out over the lake with a far-off gaze in my eyes.

_Jeesh, she's obsessed with me,_ I thought with a smirk appearing on my face.

I was about to try to read the other entries when the pages suddenly flipped to a clean sheet, as if the wind suddenly picked up, or like in one of those Harry Potter movies where someone writes to Harry with a book. Anyway, as I sat there, frightened out of my mind, words started to appear on the page.

_"Time? Don't know, don't give a crap._

_Day? As long as I'm alive does it matter?_

_Place? Somewhere._

_Dear diary,_

_I'm so wound up right now it's not even funny. I can practically hear a leaf fall off a tree right now I'm so alert. It's been about a week since I saw a Flywolf or an Eraser. I'm so freaked out I swear if I saw an enemy right now, I'd probably be screaming for joy while kicking their asses. No one else except maybe Fang feels as tense as I do. Itex must be up to something. Speaking of Fang, I finally signed on to the laptop and I could hear him trying to hold back a laugh because of my background._

_Note to self: make sure to hit him across head._

_Just because he has deep,thought-filled gorgeous dark violet eyes and magnificent wings, doesn't mean I won't kick him to next fall if I didn't have to. _

_Get it,next fall? _

_Oh God, I'm making puns now. _

_Not even my music is distracting me...wait a second...why does it feel as if someone is touching my book?"_

I froze, my already tensed muscles starting to ache as I clenched my jaw and drew in a breath.

_How did she know?! _I thought to myself, unable to move.

_"Hm...if it's an Eraser, they should keep reading so that my rage will grow to an enumerable amount. Hey, then that would make for a wonderful fight. But, of course, if it's anyone else, I feel sorry for you *insert evil smirk here*"._

And then, the writing stopped, as if it was a regular diary entry. The only problem was that I was scared shit less.

Yes, the emotionless Fang was indeed scared shit less.

I was even more frightened than that time Ari basically shredded me with his claws and I thought that I was going to die, or that time when Total accidentally went free-falling in the air and almost plummeted to his death.

What made this different was that I could feel Ember's ferociousness rolling off of her and the notebook; the fear that she might actually rip my head off or worse if I didn't get rid of the ticking timebomb in my hands. I finally managed to swallow, feeling the burning sensation in my parched throat.

_"Fang,whats going on? Are you OK?" _I heard Angel ask me through her thoughts.

I blinked once to get out of my daze and turned around to look at Angel, who looked stricken sitting on the bank at the lake. I gave her a slightly reassuring smile, even though I knew that I didn't look convincing enough. I turned away from her gaze and looked back down at the notebook, which sat wide open at my feet. I felt better now that I wasn't touching the demon book.

_What would make her so mad that she's willing to kill over? _I thought to myself.

I was so tempted to pick it back up and look through it again, but something in the back of my mind sent me bad vibes, so I decided against it and put the notebook back on the branch, just the way I had found it, before going back to the laptop.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	9. Chapter 8: Stupid Party Crashers

Yes, I know this chapter is a little rushed, but with a mixture between school and total drainage of energy, I just wanted to get it over with. I might edit it with some better material so yeah lol.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Stupid Party Crashers**

I stood there for the rest of the afternoon, clenching and unclenching my fists with music blaring in my ears until the kids came out of the lake, looking quite hungry. I smiled at them, although it was forced, and said there was some more fish by Fang. I saw some shoulders slump down slightly, and I grinned in spite of myself.

I was getting really tired of fish myself. I would soon have to get my laptop and leave...but even this thought saddened me.

I had grown attached to the flock, including Fang, even though he was an idiot for touching things that didn't belong to him and annoying me with his constant staring. But they were so...so close; like a family. It felt good to stay there and watch them as they cracked jokes at each other, or when they stacked their fists together, as if to symbolize a never-ending bond between them. It always made me think of what I had, before I was taken away...

"Hey" said Fang as he came up behind me. My teeth clenched, but I kept a calm facade while taking my headphones out of my ears. There was a slight ringing and I laughed to myself.

_Note to self: don't blast music in your ears in an attempt to drown out the world, _I thought to myself as I turned to face him.

Fang seemed cool, laid back, relaxed, but his eyes said something different, like excitement...and fear."Thanks for letting me use the laptop. I still might need it though, so if you don't want to stick around and eat more fish, you can leave it with me" he said as he shrugged his shoulders. I crossed my arms as I leaned on my left leg, my eyes narrowing at him slightly.

"Sorry. I don't plan on changing my mind any time soon" I replied. He smirked and I scowled at him, trying to stay calm as I walked past him.

"So...the pictures in your notebook...they're nice" Fang said, his lips curling up.

And that sent me off the edge.

As I stood there standing next to him shoulder to shoulder with me facing the camp, my hand materialized right in front of his face, pushing him down to the ground with quite a lot of force, if I do say so myself. He looked up at me, his eyes wide with slight shock, with one hand behind his head.

I knew he had read my notebook, but the fact that he had snuck into my stuff _to_ look at it, possibly reading some of my entries, angered the living soul out of me.

"Do you have some kind of problem with other people's stuff and not touching them?!" I asked, feeling my cheeks getting hot; my hands balled into tight little fists. Fang stood up calmly, his hand still rubbing the back of his head.

"What's so important in there that you have to hide it?" Fang asked accusingly. My teeth clenched together so tightly I was sure my jaw was going to pop.

He was challenging me; trying to get me mad enough to actually spill something.

As if I would. It was my book; he didn't have to know anything.

And right then and there, I knew he had won.

Not because I couldn't come up with a retort, because trust me, I could. I was even planning on setting his pants on fire, but I knew Angel was trying to read my thoughts as we spoke.

The only reason why I admitted defeat was because every ones eyes were on me, waiting for my next move. I hated being under the radar of peoples' stares; it made me uncomfortable. So I sighed, letting out all of my hot air and pent up anger, and shouldered my way past him back to where my belongings were.

"At least I dont snore" I mumbled, but I knew he heard it.

"I don't snore" I heard him say with a slight acidic tone. I could hear the rest of the flock snickering as I climbed a tree branch.

"Sure you don't" I replied with a small smile forming on my face.

"Whatever" Fang said. He helped everyone get settled for bed before putting out his fist for the rest of the flock to stack theirs on.

In a matter of minutes, everyone was fast asleep, except Fang, who was watching me watch him. I guess he was waiting for me to go to sleep or something so that he could draw on my face. Or he didn't want to go to sleep just in case he really did snore. The thought of that almost brought me on the verge of a chuckle, which made him scowl at me before looking away into the fire.

And then I heard it.

The sickening sound that brought back horrible memories.

_And just when I thought I had found paradise... _I thought to myself as I stood up on my branch and climbed to the top of the tree. The canopy was ridiculously high, but I finally managed to poke my head up out of the top of the tree for a quick glance. I scanned the streets below to find them empty except for a few passing cars.

But then again, I knew that wasn't where I should have been looking.

My gaze slowly shifted to the sky and my heart sank into my chest. A cloud of Erasers and Flywolves were coming straight towards us, and it seemed like there were more than a good four dozen of them. I quickly dropped from the tree and landed in front of Fang gracefully. He gave me a look of confusion when he read my expression.

_How could he not hear the ear-deafening screech that they are making?_ I thought to myself. I looked over at Iggy, who was curled up in a tight ball with a slight look of concentration on his face, his body twitching every once in awhile. _He must barely hear them..._ I thought.

"Time to go" I said to Fang simply, listening to the screeches getting louder in my ears.

"Why?" he asked, getting up quickly while doing a 360 scan. I grabbed his hand and we suddenly ended up near the top of the tree that I was on. He looked down, his eyes widening because he was caught off guard. "How did you-"

"Shut up and look" I said. He was wearing out my patience, and we were running out of time.

I jumped down again and woke everyone up, still surprised that they couldn't hear the roaring that was splitting through the night air. Fang came down soon after, his face determined, as he briefed everyone on what was going on while he packed the small belongings that he had. I grabbed my laptop just as Fang did the same. Our eyes met for a second before I let it go. I gave him the "you can take it but I'm still coming with you BECAUSE it's mine" look. He seemed to get it because he rolled his eyes at me.

I would have chuckled if we weren't about to run for our lives.

We finally flew out of the clearing and into the sky, and I knew that they saw us because I heard, "Hey, there they are! Let's rip them to shreds!". I saw Total pop his head out of Iggy's backpack and look behind us.

"Holy crap! We're gonna die!!" he yelled before popping his head back inside, most likely to curl into a little ball. I flew next to Fang and glanced back, only to gaze in horror as the black cloud gained on us.

"What's the plan?" I asked Fang, but the look in his eyes told me everything. We didn't really have one.

"We need to shake them off" Fang said.

"We can't lose THAT! That's nearly impossible! " I heard the Gasman say.

"Impossible is a state of mind" I replied, trying to calm him down a bit. I saw Fang glance at me but before I could say anything, I heard Iggy shout.

"They're shooting rockets at us!"

"Split up!" ordered Fang, and we flew in different directions as three rockets blasted right where we were only seconds ago.

_I'm glad we have the blind kid... _I thought to myself before feeling a sharp pain in my back. I turned around with a round house kick, which ended up right into a flying Erasers face. I looked around me to notice that I was surrounded by a whole group of flying Erasers and Flywolves alike. I glanced behind them to see that the flock was holding their own.

Angel was making them drop out of the sky one by one, the Gasman and Nudge were kicking butt, Fang was uprooting anger that I never thought he had, and Iggy was kicking butt and taking names. But I was the only one with the biggest group surrounding them. I felt anger build up in me and I sprung into action, snapping arms, kicking stomachs, karate-chopping necks, and using every pressure point and fighting skill that I had ever learned.

And then I saw it, but only because Iggy was in my line of vision. I'm sure this didn't happen often because he had a surprised look on his face.

But then again, he probably never faced Flywolves AND flying Erasers with decent flying skills at the same time.

It all went in slow motion for me as I watched an Eraser's claws barely miss his back and his wings, but catch the straps of his backpack. The bag dropped like a ton of bricks and I saw him look down with a look that said, "Did i just lose like 100 pounds?".

I heard Angel scream in horror.

And then my body just moved.

I jumped over a Flywolf and dived down, knowing fully well that Total was in that bag. I couldn't breath or think as I pushed out every bit of speed that I had.

_God, I cant catch up to him! I cant catch up to him!! God, think, think, think, THINK! OK, I have to use it and I have to use it now! C'mon, you've done it before! Use it now...USE IT NOW!! _I screamed at myself.

And then I saw it.

A huge, gigantic light purple hand with its palm face up appeared underneath the falling bag and stopped it. I almost started laughing with hysterics as I rushed down to the hand and almost ripped open the bag to see a shaking, terrified, and wide-eyed Total.

"Total, say something" I said, now a bit concerned that he was going mute or something.

"That's the SECOND TIME that I've been dropped from the FLIPPIN' SKY! I'M GONNA KILL YOU ERASERS!!" Total screeched. I picked him up and held him in a deathly hug, tears almost coming to my eyes.

_"Oh, God, thank you, thank you, thank you!" _I heard Angel say to me in my head. I smiled to myself and just happened to look in Iggy's bag.

"I can't believe you trust yourself to stay in a bag filled with handmade bombs!" I said to Total as I picked one up. "If this fell to the ground, fire started or not, you would have been blown to bits...". Total's eyes widened, as if he just realized that he could die that way.

_"Watch out!" _I heard Angel yell in my head and I instantly looked back. I had almost forgotten that we were fighting Erasers. I quickly formed a plan as I took out a couple of bombs and stuffed them in my pocket.

"Can you stay in the bag?" I asked as I looked at Total.

"Only if you won't drop me..." Total mumbled. I gave him a reassuring smile and promised him that I wouldn't before I carefully placed him back into Iggy's bag. I then grabbed it and held it tightly in my arms before taking off into the air again. I glanced back, only to notice that more than half of the flying Erasers, or Eraser 2.0 as I called them, and the Flywolves that were left were following me. It also didn't help that as soon as that hand disappeared, I gained a splitting headache that made my vision blurry.

"Fang!" I called to him as I flew above him. He kicked an Eraser hard in the stomach before looking up at me.

I carefully passed him Iggy's bag and heard Total say, "I SWEAR if you drop me again I WILL HATE YOU FOR LIFE!".

I smiled before saying, "Don't worry. You're in good hands".

Fang and I exchanged a glance and he sent a "what are you gonna do?" kind of look to me. I tried to smile, but it came out more as a smug look.

"Get the flock as far away from here when you get the chance. Trust me this once" I said before quickly diving out of the way as a bullet whizzed past my face. I shot straight down near the clearing that we all were in no less than half-an-hour ago at most; when everything was slightly peaceful. I grounded my teeth together at the memory and took Iggy's small bombs out of my pockets."C'mon, follow the leader, douche bags!" I yelled behind me as I sped towards the trees. I screeched to a sudden stop, almost toppling head over heels to the ground, and was soon surrounded by more than half of the vicious snarling cavalry...well, the half that wasn't dead. My ears were ringing as I threw the small, harmless looking bombs on the ground.

I didn't know how effective a blind avian-boy's homemade bombs were, but I was about to find out.

"Hope you like fire, 'cuz you're in the kitchen" I said with a smirk.

_Note to self: if I survive this, don't ever say that again, _I thought to myself as I set the bombs on fire.

I quickly sent myself underwater and as soon as I did, I felt the Earth shake. Seconds later, an Eraser's head crashed right in front of me in the water, and I let out a scream before covering my mouth and swimming to the surface. I let out a choking gasp and climbed out, my wings drooping by my sides. As I coughed up water and gasped for air, I looked around.

Those small, harmless looking bombs completely obliterated the trees that were closest to it. The rest of them were charred black. There were mini-fires on the branches and I quickly put out all but one which was on the ground. There were Eraser guts all over the place, but I ignored them so that I wouldn't start feeling sentimental. It was either me or them.

I stood up and looked at the sky, only to notice that the fighting hadn't ceased. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and imagined that hand came and swept away all of the Erasers.

_I have enough energy for this... _I thought as I opened my eyes. But my vision was already beyond seeing anything, and I soon felt my eyes close again as I slipped into unconsciousness.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	10. Chapter 9: Check In At Motel 6

**Chapter 9: Check In At Motel 6**

I didn't know what Ember was going to do, but I couldn't pay too much attention to it since I had to dodge about five different punches to my body. I saw Angel freeze and then shout at me.

"Fang, Ember's going to-".

And then we heard an Earth shattering BOOM coming from the clearing that we were in earlier. Everyone stopped and looked down, watching the scene unfold.

"Was that one of MY bombs?" Iggy asked in astonishment.

"Yeah it was...and it was TOTALLY AWESOME!" said the Gasman, who punched the air with a grin on his face. Nudge rolled her eyes, even though she had a deep gash on her shoulder, but I glanced at Angel, who had a stricken look on her face.

_"I can hear her thoughts, but it's very faint..." _she said to me in thought. I felt my muscles go rigid but was knocked back to my senses when I heard Nudge grunt and then say, "You little..." before kicking a Flyboy in the face.

That resumed the fighting, and we were back to kicking, dodging, and punching. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I saw something purple coming towards us. It was that same purple hand that I had seen catch Total.

"Amscray!" I yelled to the others, and we bolted higher into the air just as the hand came. I watched as it collected every single Eraser and Flyboy in one fell swoop, then the hand closed into a fist. I could hear the muffled cries only for mere seconds before the hand slowly disappeared to reveal what was left. The Erasers had no heads left on their shoulders; their bodies made their way to the ground, and the Flyboys were definetly scrap metal. I shuddered to myself quietly and assessed the flock. Although they looked like they were almost beaten to a bloody pulp, everyone was here...except one.

I glanced at Angel, already knowing the look that I would see on her face.

Grief.

I looked down at the clearing, my stomach in small knots, feeling the color drain out of my face. "Lets go" I said quietly in an emotionless voice. The flock hesitated, looked at me, glanced down once more, then followed behind me.

For once, Nudge had nothing to say.

O::O::O::O::O::O

We decided to at least catch our breaths at the closest hotel we could find, which, let's face it, 200 miles wasn't close. We were literally on the verge of sleep when we landed in the hotel parking lot. I saw the look the guy at the desk gave us and I couldn't even look at him with an evil eye; I was that tired. Angel went up to the desk, her angelic face still amazingly adorable considering how tired she was.

"We want a room for as long as we want, we don't want to pay for it, and we absolutely DO NOT want anyone to bother us about not paying" she said with an exasperated smile. The man at the desk had a confused look on his face before he nodded slowly, turned around, and turned back to us while giving Angel a room key. "Thank you" she said in a slightly perky tone before passing the key to me.

Sometimes I forgot how scary Angel could get.

"Oh, and can you bring us some First-Aid kits? Like eight of them? Because they're so small?" asked Nudge. The clerk nodded again and I hurried everyone to our room before they asked for anything else. As we settled into the room, and we all took a well deserved shower, washing off the dirt that we had cultivated on our skin. This gave me a chance to check everyone out properly. The whole gang mostly had bruises and scratches, or what we called "scratches"; nothing life threatening seeing as how they would heal in a day or two, but it would still be annoying if they got an infection or something.

Nudge was hungry, Gazzy and Iggy were quiet considering the newest bomb that they had created had killed someone that we could have possibly trusted, Angel was miserable, Total was infuriated, and I was slightly ticked that I still had Ember's laptop in my bag, but it was locked, _YET AGAIN_, with a new password.

"First, she saves my life. Then, she goes on being the hero and gets herself KILLED!"Total ranted as he paced back and forth on the floor.

I clenched my teeth together. The only info that I was able to get before all of this happened was the news on Max. The bird-girl who used to be my best friend, our supporter, our team leader, turned out to be an "Oops-I-didn't-tell-you-that-I-was-working-for-the-stinking-whitecoat-scientists" robot. It was all a test to see if we could differentiate the real from the fake and we failed miserably. All of those years that we grew up together at the School, I always noticed the faintest hint of a metallic sound in her voice, but I always pushed it aside, thinking nothing of it. I trusted her, but it meant nothing. So I was glad when I found out that she got scraped, terminated, died. Glad, but still hurt.

But this...this was different.

For the short week that we knew Ember, it seemed as if she made things...easier...well, as easy as easy can get when you're talking about us bird-kids, but still.

Not having her here was...weird, I guess. I couldn't even explain it. I just wished she were in the same room with us so that we could play the "Let's-stare-you-down-because-I-slightly-don't-trust-you" contest.

_OK, think, Fang, think. What do we do from here... _I asked myself. Just then, we all heard a knock on the door and a high pitched voice call out, "Room service".

I was instantly on guard, even though I knew we were supposed to be expecting someone to drop off our First-Aid kits. I glanced at the flock, who hadn't moved an inch, but I knew that they had already found all of the escape roots. O_k, so kick the window open and up and away... _I thought to myself as I slowly opened the door.

And there she was, with her back leaning against the wall opposite the door, one foot on the wall. She looked up at me and I saw blood running from her forehead on the left side, her cheek with some scratches, and her right arm slightly burned. But she had a smirk on her lips as she strolled up to me with the First-Aid kits that we had asked for.

"Thought you might need these" Ember said as she gave the First-Aid kits to me. I opened the door wider for her, beyond shock, and she walked into the room so casually, as if we all weren't on the run. "Hey guys" she said in a laid back tone of voice.

The flock looked at Ember for one second before they all jumped up and basically tackled her. First, it was Total, who jumped in her arms crying big wet tears, then it was Angel as she held on to Ember's waist, then the rest of the them just kind-of came on her like a big blob.

I was the only one left out but I couldn't help but smile at her surprised expression. "Jesus Christ, choking, not breathing!" she gasped from under them and they quickly came off only to huddle close to her, asking a whole bunch of questions. She looked at all of them, her eyes practically popping out of her head, then looked at me with pleading eyes. I only shrugged and gave her a smile, which seemed to catch her off guard for some apparent reason, because she blinked once then scowled at me. I could tell she didn't like attention at all and I could feel "you're no help" vibes rolling off of her.

Finally, Ember sighed and said, "If you will all be quiet, I can give you something nice". That seemed to shut them up and she walked past them through the door, which I had just realized was still open. She came back a couple of seconds later with what seemed like 10 or 15 bags of McDonalds.

This time, Nudge was the first one to jump up and run to Ember. I guess she feared she would make Ember drop all of the bags on the floor and not get anything to eat because she didn't tackle her this time. I remembered to close the door as she sprawled the bags on the floor and started passing them out. Nobody asked how she got it because they were too busy stuffing their faces. After what seemed like forever of shoving food down our throats, we all started asking her questions, even though it clearly made her uncomfortable.

"How did you get all this food?!" Gazzy asked as he swallowed a chicken nugget whole. She sighed before taking a drink.

"I guess when you see a bank getting robbed or if you see a bad guy running the streets, the only thing to do is turn them in and collect the money. Then save it for when you need it" she shrugged before taking another sip of the soda that she had stashed in her bag.

"What was that purple hand that you used to catch me with?" Total asked as he looked up at Ember. He was quite content sitting on her lap, and for a few seconds, I felt a slight pang of envy. For what reason, I don't know.

"Do you really have to ask that question?" she asked with a slight frown on her face.

"Yes, I have a right to know these things, especially because you had me scared and made me think you were dead!" Total said in a commanding voice. She sighed again and moved her right arm so that she could rub the back of her head. I guess she forgot about the burn because she flinched slightly.

_Have to fix that... _I immediately thought to myself as I listened intently to her explanation.

"Well..." she began. "I'm kinda, sorta...psychic...".

Gazzy's eyes opened wide. "As in you can see ghosts and talk to dead people and stuff?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow at him and chuckled.

"No, nothing like that. But I can control some elements, like fire and water. I can also control stuff around me to a certain degree and can basically make a purple human life figure. But this requires my full attention and it takes a lot out of me, so I don't do it too often" she said before she abruptly shut her mouth. Apparently, she revealed more than she wanted to say.

_So she doesnt like attention AND she's introverted...and the fact that she's psychic explains a lot... _I thought as I smiled to myself.

Then it was Nudge's turn for her eyes to be wide.

_Oh, here we go... _I thought.

"So that's how you made the ice wall when we first met?" she asked.

"Yep" replied Ember.

"And that's how you change the password without typing anything?".

"Yep".

"And that's how you made that huge purple hand come out of nowhere to crush the Erasers and Flyboys?".

"Yep".

"Can you say anything but 'yep'?".

"Yep" replied Ember. She shot Nudge a playful smile before asking, "What are Flyboys?"

"Those metal Erasers that we fought today" Iggy answered, a scowl forming on his face.

"Huh. I call them Flywolves. And although I'd prefer them dead, I think I like Flyboys better..." Ember said to herself absentmindedly.

"How did you survive? After you used that hand thing, your thoughts kinda faded away..." Angel asked. Her voice drifted away as she finished the sentence, remembering what happened only a couple of hours ago. I glanced at Ember, who looked as if she was debating with herself on whether or not to tell.

"You might as well say it. She'll find out sooner or later" I said, taking a big swig of my 4th can of soda. She scowled at me slightly and I couldn't help but grin under the can.

_I seem to be smiling a lot around her... _I thought as she started to speak.

"I don't know exactly what it is, but the best way to describe it is when I pass out from exhaustion or something; when I use my powers too much, I disappear. Like, out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. But it has its disadvantages. I wake up in the same spot and I'm very disoriented. Speaking of that, Gazzy, Iggy, your bomb was amazing!" she said as she looked at Iggy and Gazzy.

Their faces lit up with pride, or it could have been that they had stuffed their faces with fries; I couldn't tell.

"How did you know it was ours?" Gazzy asked.

"Well, for one thing, I stole a few from Iggy's bag, and I found this when I woke up". Ember reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with the sides burned a bit.

"What is it?" Iggy asked, sounding irritated. He hated it when he was the last one to know things.

"Hope you die, you dirtbags! I. and G." Ember read, a chuckle escaping her.

"I hope they saw that" said Total, who I thought had fallen asleep in Ember's lap.

"But that blast was just, wow...I'm glad I got away in time" Ember said.

"So if you got away, then how did you manage to get that on your forehead?" I asked. Ember looked confused for a second before bringing her uninjured hand to her forehead. She flinched as she touched the spot where the blood seemed to come from.

"That probably happened when I flew face first at full speed into a tree after I woke up..." she mumbled, bringing her hand back down to inspect the blood on her fingers.

There was a moment of silence before everyone burst out laughing. Ember scowled at us and we tried to stop when she pushed Total off of her lap, but we couldn't stop laughing.

I was actually rolling on the floor I was laughing so hard.

Ember stood up from the bed and rolled her eyes. Nudge got herself together as best as she could to say something.

"Could you...turn the computer on..." she asked, gasping for breath before going back into another fit of laughter. Ember crossed her arms as she looked us over. I had regained my composure a bit until I was actually able to stop the tears from coming. The rest of them were still giggling, or trying to catch their breath, or both.

Ember rolled her eyes again before saying, "Whatever". She walked to the laptop, which was already turned on, and quickly typed in the password before going into the bathroom and shutting the door.

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	11. Chapter 10: We Don't Mess With Emotions

This is one of my favorite scenes in the history of my fanfiction writing (which isn't that long in the first place XD). I actually started to tear up a little as I proof read this, so hopefully you'll like it as much as I have lol.

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****Chapter 10: We Don't Mess With Emotions; Emotions Mess With Us**

I looked into the mirror, carefully touching the places that were cut or bruised. I cringed a couple of times, but overall, it was okay.

Well...better than some days.

I turned on the shower and almost screamed when the warm water hit the arm that was burned, but I held it under the water until it became numb from the pain. It felt so different to actually take a long hot shower, and I made sure to enjoy every minute of it.

_Too bad I can't get used to this, _I thought as I dried myself off about 10 minutes later and put on my clothes, which were torn in some uninmportant places. When I walked out of the bathroom, I saw the whole flock hovering over the laptop. Fang glanced at me from over his shoulder and his eyes widened, like he was surprised.

"What?" I asked, sitting on the unoccupied bed. He snapped out of his stare and grabbed a First-Aid kit that hadn't been used.

"Nothing" he replied as he sat next to me and opened the kit.

I frowned at him, my arm starting to slightly throb. Just the sight of anything medical set me on edge.

"I can do it myself" I said defensively. He looked up at me with his eyebrow raised up, as if to say "if I allow you to do it yourself, I know you're not going to do it at all". We had a staredown for a few seconds before I held out my arm and quickly looked away, my chin resting in the palm of my hand with my elbow propped up on my knee.

I heard him chuckle and I flipped my middle finger at him.

"Itex is definetly up to something" I heard Nudge say as she typed in something. Angel turned to look at me and the blood seemed to drain from her face.

"Ember...did you have a sister?" Angel asked.

My heart skipped a beat, and at that moment, something other than my arm had actually started to hurt.

"Yeah..." I said, my voice sounding strangled in my ears.

"How long ago was it when you left the school?" Angel asked.

I didn't want to talk about this; not my sister. I wanted to run out of that room, spread my wings wide, and fly far away where I could escape it all and just cry my eyes out. But my body was paralyzed; the only thing that would move was my mouth.

"Its been 2 years since I left. I was 13, she was 6. But...she's dead" I finished, forcing the last words out. I felt shattered, shaken, exposed. My insides caved into a compact shell, waiting for me to burst.

_It was my fault, it was my fault. I let her die..._ I began to think to myself.

"I don't think so" said Gazzy, who was still looking at the computer. I snapped back into reality, my eyes focusing on Angel's concerned face.

"What are you-Ow!" I said suddenly, my head turning to look at Fang. He was putting something on my skin with a cottonball, and it burned like hell.

"Stay still" he said, his eyes focused intently on what he was doing. I turned my head back around only to see that Nudge had brought the laptop over to the bed that I was sitting on. I looked on the screen and almost choked on air.

And yes, that is possible.

The small girl on the screen was scowling at the camera while showing her teeth in the most menacing smile that she could pull off. Her skin was a fair light brown, her long hair seemed to reach all the way to her lower back in wonderful ever-flowing colors of darkbrown, a hint of scarlet, and a small touch of black, just like mine. Even our eyes looked identical, and I could swear that we would be twins if she wasn't so young.

But those eyes, the ones that I remembered held so much passion and carefreeness in them; they were gone, replaced by tired eyes, as if she had given up.

"This says that this picture was taken a couple of months ago. In England. Apparently, this is what Itex has been working on" said Nudge. I skimmed the page, catching phrases like "...our new achievement...lost sister...essential to this project...powers beyond comprehension...".

_They're using her as a guinea pig! _I said to myself as I clicked a promising looking file with my free hand. The page opened up and filled the screen, showing a picture of my parents together, looking quite happy. _Michelle Darwin and Lucas Finn, _I read to myself.

"My parents..." I heard myself say. I felt something squeeze my hand, but I was too busy reading the article to see what it was.

"The married couple of 18 years, parents of experiment CS_013 and CS_666, died after experiments were taken. Their bodies were never found..." I read out loud, feeling my heart drop. I didn't really expect my parents to be alive, but a girl could always dream. Nudge came closer to the screen, I guess to take a better look. I had had enough of gazing at the faces of my dead parents, but for some reason, I couldn't look away.

"If they were married, why are their last names different?" Nudge asked.

"Maybe they kept their maiden names or something" suggested Gazzy, who also crowded around me to get a better look.

"It sounds like an alias name" said Fang quietly as he brought his head near the computer also. I glanced at my arm and saw that it was wrapped from the shoulder all the way down to my wrist.

"Both of these pictures were taken in England" said Angel, who seemed to come out of nowhere.

_Wait...two pictures? _I thought as I glanced back at the screen.

And I almost lost it.

On the page, below the information that we had already seen, was a picture of my family together. My dad, who was holding an 11 year old me up on his shoulders, laughing while having one hand wrapped around my mom's waist, who looked perfectly serene holding a 4 year old Melody in her arms.

My heart shrunk inside of my chest, and I stood up on the bed, literally jumped over everyone's head, landed on the floor and dashed out of the room, the tears that I couldn't hold back long enough escaping my eyes. I burst through the hotel doors, not even caring if the whole entire Northern population was there to watch me as I unfurled my wings and took off. But I only succedded in coming about 2 feet off of the ground before I plopped right back down to good ol' Earth on my knees.

_Oh, God! I'm losing it! I can't even fly anymore!_ I screamed at myself, the tears now flowing freely down my face like a broken water faucet. Strong arms surrounded me, locking my arms down to my sides.

"Don't do anything stupid" said a slightly husky voice and I instantly knew who it belonged to.

I thrashed and screamed for him to let me go, although I didn't know _where _exactly I would go. I just didn't want to be there. I didn't want to exist. I wanted to sink into a nice, quiet, dark place and just sit there for the rest of my life.

But, of course, it's never that easy.

_TWO YEARS! TWO WHOLE FREAKING YEARS AND I JUST CAST HER OFF AS DEAD! BECAUSE OF ME, SHE HAD TO SUFFER EVEN MORE!! _I screamed, maybe to myself, maybe out loud. I couldnt even tell; I was just so numb on the inside.

I struggled to break free, but the more I did, the tighter Fang's grip around me became, until I just gave up and ended up crying into his shoulder for God knows how long. But he didn't say a word; he just stayed there like a rock, just holding me tightly to him.

O::O::O::O::O::O

Even though it was only for 10 minutes tops, it felt like eternity. Having to hold her there in my arms, crying her eyes out. I don't know why, but the grief that she felt radiated off of her body into me.

And it was one of the worst pains that I had ever experienced.

Every gasp that she had to take just so that she could start all over reverberated into my chest and sent stabbing pains deep within my body. I just wanted to lift her head up, wipe away her tears, and tell her that everything would be okay.

But I couldn't even do that for her. All I could do was sit there, holding her. She calmed down after awhile, but she wouldn't look up at me, even when it became completely silent and the night settled around us. I was about to say something when she easily disentangled herself from my death grip that would have broken a regular human's spine. She turned her back toward me and drew her legs to her body.

"Sorry 'bout that. I'm fine now"she mumbled, but I had caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were dead, as if her soul had walked out of her and just left a zombie-like carcass laying around.

I wanted to do something, say something, ANYTHING that would get her to look at me so that I could try to make it better. But I couldn't even bring myself to tap her on the shoulder because she looked so fragile and vunerable; as if one touch would make her shatter into a million pieces and I would never see her again.

Another stab of pain shot through my chest at the thought, so I got up and walked back to the hotel room. We had a window view of the parking lot, so I would be able to keep an eye on her from there. As I walked into the room, I saw all eyes flick toward my direction before disappointedly turning their attention back to whatever they were doing.

_Jeesh, thanks for the heart-felt love, _I thought as I went over to Nudge, who was still researching on the laptop. I closed it and she looked up at me with confusion. "Time for bed" I said and everyone was instantly claiming their spots.

That's what I liked about these kids. They were so low-maintenanced...at least when they had to be.

"Where's Ember?"Total asked.

"She's still outside. She'll be fine" I replied, keeping a straight face while putting my fist out. They all followed suit and were soon fast asleep.

Iggy was curled up on the floor, Nudge and Gazzy made a little ying-yang sign on the bed, and Total was snuggled close to Angel. I positioned myself in a chair that allowed me to look out the window with ease. She was still there, curled in that same tight ball, sitting as still as possible. I couldn't stare at her for too long, partially because the pain that I had felt earlier was coming back with full force. Instead, I turned my attention to the full moon, making my mind wander.

"Fang?" Angel called quietly. I raised and eyebrow to let her know that I was listening. "She's blocking me out again..." she whispered, the hurt clear in her voice. I glanced at her and saw her expression before I got up and went over to where she was and put my hand on her head.

"She just needs some time alone" I said. She looked at me with an "I don't believe you" look, but she was so worn out that she didn't even bother to argue. She gave me a small nod before getting comfortable again and falling back to sleep. I went back to the chair and resumed looking out the window.

_Either that or she's planing something... _I thought to myself, only allowing my eyes to glance at her siloutted figure every once in awhile, sinking into myself so that I could get lost in my own thoughts.

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	12. Chapter 11: Time To Say Goodbye

**Chapter 11: Time To Say Good-bye**

It was about three in the morning now. I had been keeping the eye on the clock all night, only getting a total of 45 minutes of sleep. Iggy woke up periodically, asking me if I wanted him to take watch.

Yes, I know; a blind kid on watch sounds really stupid.

But Iggy was a blind BIRD-kid with enhanced senses. Nothing could get past him without him knowing that it was there.

But I always refused, shaking my head without looking at him. I wanted to keep an eye on Ember myself, even though she hadn't moved from where she was since I left her out there.

I fell asleep again at 3:15 only to wake up 10 minutes later to find her gone. I almost jumped out of my seat when the door creaked open slightly, the dim light from some window in the hallway shining into the room. I quickly closed my eyes and steadied my breath as if I was asleep and listened intently. There was a soft rustling and a swift ripping of paper before it grew silent. I guessed she was already standing at the doorway; I could see where the light dimmed slightly from behind my eyelids.

As soon as the door was closed, my eyes shot open. I quickly looked around the room only to realize that everyone was still fast asleep.

_Didn't they hear her come in? _I wondered as I got up out of the chair, being very careful not to step on Nudge, who had somehow managed to roll off of the bed, before I dashed to the door. I opened it, not even bothering to close it again, and ran through the hallway. My legs seemed like they couldn't move fast enough as I burst through the doors into the dim morning light.

And I saw her with her backpack, just standing there looking up at the sky.

Well...it's more like I almost ran right into her.

I stopped and had to open my wings a little just so that I wouldn't go falling flat on my face. She turned around to face me and her lips turned up into a smirk. But her eyes showed so much sadness in them; I actually couldn't look her straight in the eye.

"You didn't get any sleep last night" she said, not meaning this as a question.

"Neither did you" I replied, standing right in front of her, my mind racing. Ember chuckled, but it had a pained tone to it.

"No, I guess I didn't..." she mumbled, her gaze seeming to go to a distant place, as if remembering something. After a few moments, she turned away from me, her wings snapping out, her feathers ruffling slightly as she got ready to take off.

_She's gonna leave... _Was all I could think before my hand reacted and grabbed her hand in mine.

"Wait..." was all I could get out of my mouth. Her wings drooped slightly, but she wouldn't look at me.

I needed her to turn around so that I could read her eyes to know what she was feeling.

"What about Angel? And Nudge, and Iggy, and Gazzy? Total? They trusted you; you can't just walk out on them" I began.

_And what about me? How do I feel? _I asked myself, but even I couldn't answer that question.

"They'll be better off without me" she replied simply, as if she was forcing all emotion out of her voice. I was losing her; she was slipping out of my grasp, like flowing sand through an open crack.

"What about your laptop?!" I asked, gripping her hand.

Yes, a desperate attempt on my part.

I didn't even understand why I was even doing this. Why I was fighting so hard to keep her here when she clearly wanted to leave. But all I could think was that she had to stay with us.

For the short week that we had known her, the flock seemed...happier. As if she had filled some kind of gap left by the traitor Max, or at least dulled the pain. The idea of her leaving now just as everyone had opened up to her seemed impossible in my mind.

She finally turned to face me, taking a deep breath before she did. My chest felt heavy and my heart felt numb as I saw her expression.

Longing, regret, anger, pain; all mixed together in those brown eyes that seemed to go on forever and yet nowhere at the same time.

"I can always get another one" she replied. I felt her hand gently slide out of mine. But like an idiot, I held it even tighter. Like trying to grab air. "Jeesh, you must be Fang's emotional twin or something" she said, that smirk returning to her face again.

Oh.

Haha.

That was supposed to be a joke.

But I couldn't even reply with a smart remark because I was thinking the same thing, too.

Why couldn't I just let go of her and say,"Bye! Hope you live long enough to have a happy life". Why couldn't I just walk back into the hotel and watch my flock like I had been doing since we had escaped the School?

_I've only known her for a freaking week? So why?! _I asked myself. I knew she was waiting for me to say something, but I was lost for words, both mentally and physically, which is saying something. Suddenly, Ember sighed heavily before walking toward me, closing the small gap between us. She leaned in and I was frozen; I didn't know what she was going to do. She whispered something in my ear and before I could say anything, I heard something click, like the sound of a lightswitch being turned off.

Everything instantly went black, and all I could remember was her voice ringing in my head with those last words.

"Stay safe".

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	13. Chapter 12: I Wanna Be Like GI Joe!

Okay, so for those of you that have been reading, keep in mind that I make these chapters up while in school (even though I really should be paying more attention but I can't stop _writing!!!)_. I was planning on waiting until I actually got around to typing more parts on the story on my computer before posting this but SOME people can't wait *cough* you know who you are ^.^ *cough* lol.

So as I said before (like several chapters ago lol) reviews would be so amazing and I really do appreciate constructive criticism from anyone, so yeah.

Hope you all enjoy ^.^**

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**Chapter 12: I Wanna Be Like G.I. Joe!**

_Who is that? Oh, it's just a girl. She's walking away from me. She seems familiar. Oh look, she turned around. She has a nice smile. That hair, those wings, those eyes...what's her name? "Fang...Fang...". She's calling my name. It hurts. Why is it hurting? God, stop calling my name!_

O::O::O::O::O::O

I woke up to find Iggy hovering over me, yelling my name and about to slap my face.

"Ok, I'm up" I said, pushing him off of me. I sat up quickly only to have my head start spinning. I put my hand to my head and scanned the area. I was back in the hotel room, and the rest of the flock had mixed emotions.

Total was pacing again while eating something. Gazzy was trying to drown out his sadness by stuffing his face with what smelled like breakfast.

He wasn't succedding.

Angel was on the bed with her legs drawn to her body and her face hidden. Iggy and Nudge were huddled in a corner; Iggy had his hand on her back, consoling her. Everything that had happened last night came flooding back in my mind, but I forced myself not to think about it too much.

"She knocked us out AND left us!" Total said with his mouth full, so it sounded like muffled gibberish.

"How'd she knock us out?" I asked.

"I don't know. I heard a click and I was out" said Gazzy as he stuffed a pancake in his mouth.

_So it wasn't just me,_ I thought. Nudge stood up and handed me a piece of paper.

"She left this, along with some others" said Nudge solemnly.

I looked at the paper and caught my breath. It was a picture of us, my family, sitting by a campfire and laughing. It was so detailed, I felt as if I was actually there again in that field, cracking up at a joke that Iggy had made.

"Where would she go? And why would she just leave without saying goodbye or something?" asked Total.

"Do you really have to ask?" I said, standing up from the bed that I was apparently on. I almost stumbled, but I caught myself at the last minute.

Suddenly, I felt something on the back of the picture. I turned it around and saw it. Just like what I had witnessed that day in the field when I was reading her diary. The letters were tiny but eligible, and my throat tightened as I read over each word. She was still in contact with us, although maybe not consciously.

I turned to face the others, who were now looking at me with confusion written all over their faces."You guys ready to go on a rescue mission?" I asked. Their faces instantly lit up with excitement and anticipation.

Iggy and Gazzy slapped each other high fives."Alright, let's go blow up some retards!" said Gazzy.

O::O::O::O::O::O

_"Ha, I was right about us being near the ocean. It only took me a couple of minutes to get to it from the hotel. _

_I think we were in Virginia or something...I already forgot...man, my head hurts; and can this ocean be any longer? I mean, flying in an airplane would be faster than this, but I don't think that I could sit in that cramped space for God knows how long just to go to England. _

_Grr, I don't even know where I'm supposed to go or even what to look for! I just had to be the nice person and decide to leave my laptop with them. I hope they're ok now. I did leave them some money that should last them for awhile. _

_Maybe they didn't even bother taking it. They probably even burned the pictures that I left. I don't blame them...I would hate myself too if I was in their shoes. It took all of my strength to just leave them like that. Especially Fang...the look he gave me was heartbreaking...if I hadn't cried my eyes out earlier, I probably would've started crying right then and there, and I would never have left. _

_Well...I'm not too far...maybe I could go back and at least say goodbye...no! No, you have a job to do! You're going to save your sister! Besides, going back means putting the rest of them at risk, because you know that they would want to come...but what if she's not...alive? _

_What if I left them for nothing?_

_Then I'll be back to me, myself, and I. Only this time it will be worse. I made friends...which means new wounds...no, she's alive. I can feel it. _

_But I don't know how long I can keep this up. I'm already getting a bit tired...HEY LOOK A SHIP! OH SWEET JESUS, A COLOR OTHER THAN BLUE! _

_Now if I could only land without being caught..."._

O::O::O::O::O::O

I had read that entry over two hours ago before we all had a quick grab-n-go kind of breakfast and Angel "convinced" the desk clerk that we were never there and that we owed them nothing. Even with the money Ember left us, we couldn't possibly pay for the bill, so we decided to split. Now, we were over the ocean, looking for any signs of a flying girl.

"Ok, ok. I spy with my little eyes something-" started Total.

"We are NOT playing the 'I Spy' game" Iggy growled.

"Where is she going exactly?" asked Gazzy.

"Most likely the School in England" Nudge said. We all looked at her.

"There's a School in England too?!" Gazzy screeched.

"I guess there are Schools everywhere" Nudge continued.

"Well then why is she going to England if they are everywhere?" Iggy asked.

"To save her sister" I replied, my eyes scanning the horizon.

" Apparently, her parents were born in England, but they moved to the U.S., but when her sister turned 4 and she turned 11, 'cuz apparently they have the same birthday, they were kidnapped and taken to the School. They caught Ember's sister, but Ember managed to escape, and after that they sent Ember's sister to the School in England" said Nudge.

"So she's going there to see her sister before she commits suicide?" Iggy asked.

Iggy got two hard hits in the head by Nudge and Angel, an elbow to the side by Gazzy, a bite that was hard enough to hurt a little bit by Total, and a hard glare by me, even though I knew he couldn't see it. It was my job to be the silent pessimist, but this was not something I wanted to joke about.

"She won't die, you doofus!"said Total, looking ready to rip someone's throat out if they said something like that again.

"Ow! I'm sorry, but going against those odds, you know she won't have the upper hand" Iggy said while rubbing his head. I clenched my teeth together.

Iggy was right. If she was to have any chance of escaping with her head still attached to her neck, we had to be there to bail her out.

"Too bad we didn't give her any bombs to use..." Gazzy said quietly.

"Yeah, because the last thing we need is for her to use bombs made by two pyro-maniacs that could easily destroy the wonderful place known as England" Total said under his breath. Angel and Nudge laughed, Iggy and Gazzy started to argue with Total, and I smirked.

Maybe things will start to look up.

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	14. Chapter 13: Gotta Love That Blue

Yes, yes I know it's a very short chapter and everyone who reads this story might yell at me for making it into a little cliff hanger, but that's just me (I like to tease you with what might happen lol).

Anyway, hope you enjoy and I promise the chapter 14 will be coming out soon (so don't freak out) ^.^

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****Chapter 13: Gotta Love That Blue**

_"I made it on the boat without drawing any attention to myself, but it was walking through it that made me uneasy. Even with my wings tightly pressed against my body, I still got some weird glances from people. Most of my cuts and bruises from yesterday were healed, except for my arm, which I still have the bandage on. _

_It could be the beyond wearable clothes. This place looks too fancy-smancy to be a regular boat, and I'm guessing these people have never seen a freak of nature before. Either that or I'm just born to grab unnecessary attention. _

_Ugh. _

_Despite the annoying glances from people, I managed to find a room that was completely unoccupied without any hassle. The doors are card access only, so I had to basically rewire it so that it only opened when I touched it. _

_Mind powers really do come in handy sometimes. _

_The room was pretty nice and spacious, though I had already deducted that I was on a cruise ship. My headaches are on and off now, and it didn't help when the door opposite mine swung open and a petite women in maybe her mid-twenties came running out of the room with her suitcase, crying her eyes out. She saw me staring and nearly chucked the gigantic rock thing at my head, yelling that I could take them all before running upstairs to the main deck. I looked in the direction that she had disappeared to, expecting her to come back to get her stuff or something, but she didn't, so I just took the suitcase inside my room, closed the door, put it on the bed, and started looking through it. She had some really nice stuff, some of which were too small for me. I took a long, hot shower and changed into some long skinny blue jeans and a gray t-shirt. I made sure to cut some slits in them, just in case. _

_So now I'm here at the bow of the boat I guess, watching the other ships that were behind us that couldn't be seen by regular human eyes unless they had a telescope or something. And now this random guy is talking to me...doesn't he have something better to do than to bug me? Well, now that I take a closer look at him, he seems nice. _

_Good looking, too...not Eraser good looking, but good looking for a regular human guy. Tall, tan skin, blue-green eyes, black shorts, short spiky hair, a caring face...wait, why am I observing him like this? _

_And why is he talking to me again? _

_I don't know, but my guard is definitely going up"._

O::O::O::O::O::O

We had finally managed to find a small boat and sneak into the cargo storage room of the ship. It just happened to be our luck that the ship was also going to England. We were all exhausted since we were flying nonstop over nothing but ocean for what felt like an eternity. We ate some food that we had brought with us before claiming places to sleep. I was able to sit farther away from the now sleeping flock to read what Ember had recently thought, but when I finished I wished that I hadn't. I had to put the page down on the ground in order to stop myself from crushing it and possibly tearing it into little tiny shreds.

Nudge would never forgive me if I trashed one of her favorite pictures. I shut my eyes and tried to steady my breathing.

_What the hell! She doesn't even know the guy! _

_Wait...why am I caring? It's her own life; let her live it_, I thought, bringing my knees to my chest and laying my head on my knees, falling into a restless nap.

A couple of hours later, I opened my eyes and almost freaked out. It took me a second to remember where I was and I glanced toward the flock, who were still sleeping peacefully. I turned my gaze toward the paper that lifelessly laid on the ground beside me, only to see that there was more writing on the page. I grabbed it and instantly started to read, despite the feelings that I had earlier that even I couldn't understand.

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	15. Chapter 14: One, Two, Three, AndA One

Very short.

Half asleep when I made it. Had to get it down so that it didn't bug me for another day.

I don't own any of the characters in this story except for Jake, Ember, Melody, and their parents.

Reviews would be nice ^.^

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****Chapter 14: One, Two, Three, And-A One...**

So, Jake and I ended up taking a little walk around the ship and we chatted about ourselves; him about his rich family, his dreams of become an animal specialist to help sick animals, his hobbies, and such.

I just talked about the basics; my name and age. I had to lie to him and say that I was visiting my sister who was in the hospital, and he seemed to understand that I didn't want to talk about it because he didn't bug me anymore about the subject.

My head was starting to hurt again and it didn't help when he kept bumping into my arm on purpose.

I was just about to ask him to stop before I pulled his arm out of his socket when he turned to me and asked me to be his date to the party that was apparently going on later.

At first, I said absolutely not; one because I've never been to a party, two because I was going with him, a stranger that I barely knew, and three, because I couldn't dance.

But he kept bugging me and giving me those puppy dog eyes, and I couldn't resist, so I ended up saying yes. His smile was breathtaking and he leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. I was stunned beyond words and stood there like an idiot as he chuckled and walked away.

After I had gotten over the shock, I rushed to my room, heat flooding my cheeks, and instantly took a shower, scrubbing my cheek until I swear I was going to rip off my skin. I didn't know if I could truly trust the guy, and even though I cursed myself for falling for those stupid eyes, I still threw off the bandage on my arm, which was now fully healed, got dressed in a simple black dress with a slit coming up to my hip, just in case I had to kick some butt, and walked up to the deck.

I saw him standing across the entrance to the cabins, talking to someone, and when he saw me and his eyes widened, I instantly turned around and swiftly started walking back towards the stairs. But he ran up to me and held me to him while whispering in my ear.

"Why are you running?" he asked. I couldn't even turn to him; I was so embarrassed.

"I don't wear dresses too often" I said.

_More like I don't have the money to buy myself a dress...or a point to wear them... _I thought. He chuckled and that sent shivers down my spine.

"I can see that. But you should; you look gorgeous" he said.

_Shut up, shut up, shut up... _I thought to myself, trying to block out his voice. He spun me around so that I was facing him, his smile evident on his face.

"Dance with me" he said.

My eyes became as wide as doughnuts and I frantically shook my head. "I don't dance" I replied.

His smile widened as he put his hand on my back, bringing me closer to him while taking my right hand in his. "You will now" he said as he started to spin slowly in a circle.

I was truly terrified; one because I was afraid of falling flat on my face, two because I didn't want to step on his feet, three because he might be able to feel my wings, and four because I felt so powerless in his arms, even though I knew that I was so much stronger than he was. After a while, though, I started to loosen up and have some fun.

I mean, why not? There was a very high possibility that I was going to die tomorrow, so why not enjoy myself a little?

But while I was dancing, laughing at my own awkwardness, I was reminded of someone. Someone with the same hair color but a totally different personality.

Before his face popped into my head, I shoved it down to the deepest parts of my mind so that it wouldn't ruin my night. I would never see them again. They had probably already forgotten about me already, even though I would always consider them friends.

As the night continued, my head, which was already thumping, got increasingly worse. I cut the dance short after apologizing, but Jake still walked me to my room. He quickly kissed me on my cheek again before walking away.

Fighting a deep blush and grumbling under my breath with my head pounding away, I opened my door, went into my cabin, took a hot shower, chucked the dress in the garbage and fell asleep in a white tank top and gray shorts.

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	16. Chapter 15: Stranger Say What Now?

**Chapter 15: Stranger Say What Now?**

_London, England_

O::O::O::O::O::O

The ship finally landed in the port of London on a surprisingly dull gray afternoon. As soon as I took my first steps on solid ground, I swore to myself to never go on another boat again as my legs wobbled unsteadily. My bag was a bit full; it had some clothes that was in the lady's suitcase along with my book and my now slimmer wallet that now carried $50 and the credit cards that I could actually use. The only thing that I truly missed was my Ipod, which had gotten lost in the lake right before that explosion from the bombs that I had set off.

I was about to start roaming around when I heard someone call my name. I turned around and saw Jake pushing through the crowd to get to me with a small smile on his face.

"I'm glad I caught up with you" he said, slightly out of breath. I couldn't say anything; I was still surprised that he remembered who the hell I was.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick white sheet of paper that was folded in half. "Here" Jake said as he handed it to me.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at the paper suspiciously.

"It's money" he replied with a smile as he put the paper in my hand.

My eyes widened as I looked at the paper, then back at him. "I can't take this-"

"Yes you can" he interrupted. "It's to help your sister get better". His small smirk told me that he didn't believe the hospital story at all; and yet he was still giving me money.

Before my mind could properly react, I already had my arms wrapped around his neck and was giving him a hug. "Thanks" was all I could say as he brought his arms around my waist to bring me closer to him.

_Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap... _I thought to myself, now feeling self conscience about holding him.

He chuckled before whispering something I guess he thought that I wouldn't hear. "Your parents always said that you were cute...". My eyes shot open and I pushed away from him to get a good look at his face.

"What was that?" I demanded.

"Nothing, nothing. Stay safe; maybe we'll see each other again" Jake said with an embarrassed look on his face as he waved and walked away quickly. I was about to run after him and demand an answer, but thought better of it and opened up the white paper to see how much he gave me.

It was then that I noticed that there was writing on the page. I put the money in my pocket and began reading the note.

_"Dear princess,_

_Yes, I did just call you princess._

_I just want to say that I never thought that I'd be seeing you again after so long. You probably don't remember me, but I could never forget that beautiful smile that you have. _

_Let me explain._

_When you were younger, 7 years old to be exact, we were arranged to be married. Our parents were considered royal, so it seemed like a good idea. _

_But your parents suddenly took you away and moved to the U.S., making sure to keep a low profile so that we couldn't find them; I'm not too sure what their reasons were._

_I also don't know where your parents are, but I'm sure that they're alright._

_This is all that I can tell you right now, so until next time. Stay safe and I'll miss you"._

_Prince Jake_

My mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as I re-read the letter over again. I looked behind me in the direction that Jake went but saw nothing except crowds of people swarming all over the place.

_WHAT THE HELL! I can't believe he knew about my parents! _I thought to myself as I started to walk around, not really knowing where I was going. I ended up stopping in front of what looked like a coffee shop that had the most delicious aroma of chocolate coming from it. I walked inside and went to the counter, keeping a sharp watch for suspicious activity.

I ended up ordering a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream, and when I sat down and took a sip, I knew I was in heaven.

Of course, that had to be ruined when four gorgeous looking male models walked right in and looked in my direction. We had a stare down that only lasted a couple of seconds, which was unknown to the humans.

I chugged my hot chocolate down, almost burning off my tongue, before calmly getting up out of my seat and walking out of the other door that was conveniently placed near me. They followed me with grins plastered on their faces. I wanted to just snap my wings out right there and then, but there were too many people around me, and I didn't want to draw any attention to myself.

_I just can't get a break, can I? _I thought as I hurriedly took a left turn...right into an alley. I spotted a door and tried to open it, but it was locked from the inside. The alley wasn't big enough for me to spread my wings and start flapping, and all that was there to hide behind was a tin garbage can and some black bags of garbage in a nearby pile.

Brilliant.

I turned toward the opening of the alley only to see those four guys standing in front of the alley, looking more and more Eraser-like with every passing second. They grinned menacingly, baring their disgusting sharp yellow canine teeth at me.

"Personal hygiene much?" I asked, my mouth turning into a frown at the thought of their germy teeth sinking into my skin, possibly giving me rabies or something. They snarled and advanced forward. I instantly went into a fighting position, assessing my surroundings.

_Ok, maybe if I kick the first one in the mouth, I could jump on the other ones head and be able to make it out of this alley without a scratch,_ I thought to myself with a determined look on my face. But just as I was about to put my plan into action, I suddenly felt something hit me in the back of my head.

_Damn it..._ was the last thing that went through my mind before I completely blacked out.

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* * *

I want to thank everyone for reading my story so far and sending in reviews. I really can't describe how happy I get when I receive them in my e-mails (I get all giddy and can't stop smiling and then continue to write more...oh, look at that. I just described how happy I get lol).

Anyway, continue sending reviews and keep reading. I'll try my best to post as much chapters as I can in my spare time.

(**Spoiler!!!!!!:** **For those of you who like Jake and Ember, you're gonna hate what I do next XD. KEEP READING!!!).**


	17. Chapter 16: Special Delivery

**Chapter 16: Special Delivery**

My eyes flew open after I felt a jolt underneath me. I quickly scanned my environment, but it didn't take me too long to figure out where I was. The stench of medical devices was overbearing and I thought that I would throw up, but I kept the feeling at bay.

I knew that showing any signs of weakness to these lunatics would only make them want to "experiment" on me more than they already had. The cage that I was in was small, cramped, and it reminded me of the animals in the cages at the zoo.

_Now I remember how they feel... _I thought to myself.

My bag with all of my stuff was gone, and I could tell that there was something heavy on my neck. When I touched it, a small jolt of electricity ran through my body. I immediately drew my hand away and held it tightly to my stomach, feeling the sting in my now twitching hand. I heard some chuckles above me and I looked up to see two Erasers staring at me with amused smiles on their faces.

"Look, she's awake" said one of them. "I guess the drug hasn't kicked in; she still looks alert".

_DRUG! WHAT DRUG!_ I thought, my body instantly growing stiff. The other Eraser put his grimy little fur-coated finger in my cage and wiggled it around.

"Go ahead, freak. I dare you to bite me" he said.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. The boss said that she has some kind of weird power..." warned the first Eraser. The one with the wiggling finger didn't take his eyes off of me, but his smile became wider.

"She can't do anything. She's too scared because she knows that I would tear her to shreds" he said. I was totally silent as I stared at his finger, seriously considering to take him up on his dare and rip his finger off in the process, but a better idea came to mind. My pupils drew into slits as I concentrated hard on the still wiggling pointer finger.

It was much harder to make fire pop out of nowhere than it was to actually see a flame and work with it, but I continued to try.

_C'mon, c'mon, BURN!_ I thought. I saw a spark and right after that, I finally got a result.

"OH, JEESH! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!!" the Eraser yelled, bringing the finger that was now on fire out of my cage.

"What happened?" asked the smarter Eraser.

"SHE FUCKING SET MY FINGER ON FIRE!" the idiot bellowed while blowing on his finger, only making the small flame grow bigger.

In all honesty, I would have set his whole body on fire, but I was feeling woozy, so I stopped keeping the flame up, even though I kept a prominent smirk on my face. I heard the Eraser suck in a breath before my cage started to shake. I was already slightly disoriented, so this didn't help too much.

"YOU BITCH! I swear when they let you out-"

"Shutup! We're here" said the calmer Eraser as we stopped in front of a closed door. The Eraser without the burnt finger knocked roughly and seconds later, the door opened up. The Erasers pushed my cage inside, following close behind it. I scanned the new brightly lit room and almost cursed out loud.

The place was packed with whitecoats, and they all turned their attention to me when I rolled in. I would have shrunk back and cowered in fear if I didn't keep telling myself that these maniacs craved fear from their subjects. I stayed silent with a stubborn expression pasted on my face as several whitecoats smiled and walked towards me.

"Well, well. Look who we finally have in our possession once again. Long time no see" said a woman who bent down to my eye level and shot me a smirk.

The way she looked at me disguisted me so much; I just wanted to reach my hand out of these cages, grab her face, and rip off her skin. But I sat there Indian style in that cramped cage, staring back at her without saying a word. Her smile faded slightly and I could tell how nervous she was when I saw a little bead of sweat drop from her forehead.

Was it possible that she could fell the hatred and resentment that I was feeling towards her right now? Was my anger rolling off of me in huge tidal waves? Man I hoped so, because I wanted them all to drown in it.

She quickly stood up and turned away from my cage and I noticed the shallow breath that she took in. Some of the nearby whitecoats looked at her questionally but the others were too enraptured by me to even care.

"She really has grown a lot. She used to be able to open her wings to their full extent in that size of a cage when she was younger, but now she can't even pull them out!" noted a whitecoat.

"Has she gone mute?" asked another.

"Maybe she's deaf" suggested another.

They all broke out in a round of conversations, all huddling near my cage, marveling, wondering, but never touching. I guess they heard the story of that stupid Eraser and his now infected finger.

I stayed still, stayed quiet, my eyes looking straight ahead as I tried to drown out the idiots surrounding me. I would have literally lost my sanity and self-control and broke down crying if I didn't try to recede into my own mind and relax.

_Find a happy place, find a happy place..._ I repeated to myself. W_ait...do I even have a happy place? _I asked myself.

All of my life had been filled with sorrow and loneliness. The only times that had made me happy was when I looked at the pictures in my book, and I didn't even have that with me.

_My time with the Flock was fun... _I thought, remembering the laughs, the lake, everyone together...

I was trying not to cry when I heard some say, "The Chief is here!". My attention snapped back to reality as I saw the sea of people make a pathway for someone. My vision was slightly blurred when I tried to look at a far distance, probably because of the drugs that they had given me, but as the person got closer to my cage, my heart sank.

In front of my little personal hell, looking down at me with an amused smile on his face was Jake, the boy from the boat.

"Hello there, princess" he said sweetly. My mouth was open, my eyes wide with surprise, but as he said those words, my teeth clenched, my hands balled into fists, and I started to see nothing but red.

"You..." I said in a menacing whisper while glaring at him. He chuckled and bent down to my level.

"Oh good, you remember me. At first I thought you wouldn't" he said.

I heard the whispers of the other whitecoats saying, "Oh, she can tallk", "Do you think the Chief should be taunting her like that?", "He should be careful"; but I didn't care what they were saying.

At that moment, all I wanted was his throat; all I wanted was for him to be dead. I didn't care if I was drugged, I didn't care how many whitecoats were in that room or if there wasn't an exit, and I didn't care if Erasers were nearby just in case.

I wanted him dead.

I let out a banshee screech as I pushed my shoulder against the top of the bars, making small dent marks where I had impacted into it. I heard gasps coming from the observers and I heard the Erasers that brought me in here calling for backup, but that guy...that MONSTER just sat there watching me.

"You know, this could all disappear right now. All you would have to do is be mine forever" he said casually. I looked at him with fury scribbled all over my face, ignoring the pain in my shoulder.

If I was in my right mind, I would have said, "So you have to ask a captive bird-girl in a cage to be your girlfriend. That's really pathetic. But not even someone like me would stoop so low", or something to that effect.

But I was beyond thinking.

I had lost it.

I lunged forward, letting out a growl, but I made the mistake of putting my hands on the bars in front of me.

I swear, maybe 100 volts of electricity coursed through my entire body in that small instant. I was literally paralyzed while holding the bars for about a count of three before I forced myself away. I laid there in the cage, panting hard and twitching like crazy, surprised that I wasn't dead or worse, like brain damaged.

"God, you're so hot when you're pissed beyond any rational thought" the jerk said. The only thing that I could do that didn't involve too much movement was flick my middle finger at him. I couldn't speak just yet, but I could think clearly now that the red was draining out of my sight.

_Ok, I have to calm down, I have to think, I have to be smart. Another thing like that could really cost me my life. I just have to sit, listen, and wait for the perfect opportunity and then I'll be gone,_ I thought to myself. My body was becoming more stable and I was able to move a bit more, but I didn't want to look at his face again.

"I'm glad your father brought me into this. He is such a great partner! And, as an added bonus, I get to see you even more than I did as a child" he commented enthusiastically. I struggled to get up to look him in the eye so that he could feel my rage but he was already standing up and talking to a female whitecoat.

"Shall we do the performance as scheduled?" she asked. Mr. I'm-a-nutcase looked down at me with a thoughtful look on his disguisting face before he smiled.

"Sure, we will continue on as planned" he replied. I heard several murmurs coming from the peanut gallery; some saying, "This will be interesting", others saying that they wouldn't miss this for the world. "Bring her in" yelled the douchebag and five seconds later, a door to the right of the room that blended right into the wall opened up.

My breath caught in my throat as a small girl who looked almost like me but shorter walked into the room. I noticed a chill run through most of the whitecoats, and some of the Erasers in the room snickered before the girl sent them a glance that shut them up immediately.

She was the same girl from the photo on the internet.

She was...my sister.

"Come here" commanded Mr. Lunatic. His voice was cold and uncaring but she obeyed without saying a word. "This will be your opponent. Don't kill her, or I'll kill you" he said, the threat sounding more like a promise. She nodded at him once, but it was only when she looked at me when she raised an eyebrow.

"They look similar, don't they? Are you sure they aren't related?" whispered a whitecoat.

"No, their records are confirmed that they are from two different parents" replied another. Even the jerk looked at both of us with a curious look on his face.

"Are you two sisters?" he asked. I gave her an "I hate you, you're one of them" look, even though I was thinking the exact opposite in my mind.

_Melody, I'm sorry! I truly do love you! _I thought to myself, knowing fully well that she couldn't hear me. But her eyebrows raised up in surprise for only a split second before returning to that emotionless face. But it was still enough for me to catch it.

"Well, I guess not. Although that would have made this so much more interesting. Alright, take her away. She needs her rest" he said. I heard a couple of Erasers move towards my cage and Jake bent down again to look at me."I'm really sorry, but I have to have them drug you again. It would be a shame if you got all of your wonderful senses up to full par and decided to leave me" he said, actually sounding apologetic. I glared at him and put as much hatred into my voice as possible, but it ended up sounding worn out, tired.

"I hate you" I said with disgust. He smiled, as if delighted to hear this.

"Hate is a resultant of love, my dear" he replied.

"You're crazy!" I said as they started to wheel me away.

"Only crazy about you" he said simply and winked at me. All I could do was look away. He kept turning my words around.

He made me sick.

O::O::O::O::O::O

After I got shot up with more drugs, I fell asleep.

I don't know how long I was knocked out. A couple of hours, or maybe even days. All I knew was that when I woke up, I was curled up in a tight ball, I was aching all over, and I was very disoriented. I wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up again, but I forced myself up and tried to focus.

I could feel that there was someone else in my room.

I rubbed my eyes and glanced around, becoming more and more alert. I saw someone sitting backwards in a chair nearby, watching me intently. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was none other than my sister. She stood up and walked toward my cage and my eyes widened slightly as I noticed the device that she had around her neck.

"You have one, too. They shock you if you don't do what they say" she said after realizing what I was looking at. Her voice rang in my ears and it surprised me how much her name fitted her. It was like a soothing song gently entering your head so that you could never forget.

She sat Indian style in front of me on the floor and brought out some pictures and my notebook. "Who are you, and how do you know my name" she said simply.

I recognized the pictures that she had in her hand. They were the last remaining things left of the house that we all used to live in as a family. I had managed to take them with me before my house burned down and I was taken away.

"You were such a cute kid" I noted absentmindedly, the thoughts that I had sealed away in the farthest parts of my mind now coming back to me in full force.

"Shut up and answer the question" she demanded, giving me the same look that she had given to those Erasers.

Honestly, I thought that was the cutest look that I had ever seen. An 8 year old trying to act tough. That brought a smile to my face.

"If you really want to know, then I'll tell you. My name's Ember, and I'm your sister" I said. There was a moment of silence as we stared at each other. After a while, her mouth turned into a slight frown.

"Your lying" she stated.

"No, I'm not" I replied, slightly confused.

How could she not see it? It was as plain as night and day.

"Yes, you are!" she retorted, her voice rising. I kept my voice calm, wanting to comfort her so badly.

"What reason do I have to lie to you?" I asked her innocently.

"I don't know!" she said furiously as she stood up and turned her back to me. I didn't say anything else, knowing that it would only make the situation worse.

I was seeing my sister for the first time in two years, in the flesh, not in any kind of dream...and she didn't even know it.

_I don't know what she's hiding but I'm not gonna get any real answers from her... _I heard a voice say in my mind. I blinked once and instantly looked around.

Angel?

Could that seriously be Angel sending me a thought?

_She really does look like me, though. But she couldn't be my sister. She is gone...possibly dead... _said the voice again. I turned my attention back to the little girl who was standing in front of me and noticed how her hand clenched into a fist, as if she was remembering something unpleasant.

_What the...am I...reading your mind? _I thought. She quickly turned to face me with shock clearly written on her face. Suddenly, I heard a clicking sound, like something being turned on. I was suddenly able to see everything from her eyes and feel all of her emotions as she stared back at me.

_Get out of my mind! _she screamed in her head, and it scared me how loud the thought seemed to be amplified in her brain. I shut my eyes tight only to open them again just when the door to the room that we were in opened up and in rushed in the jerk along with some Erasers. He pushed my sister out of his way and hurried toward my cage, looking at me with worry on his face.

"Are you okay? Did she do something to you?! Say something!" he said frantically. I was in a slight daze but I looked up at him and scowled.

"Go to hell" I said to him, the hatred starting to flood my body. He breathed a sigh of relief, bent down, and reached his hand into the cage, as if he wanted to touch my cheek.

"As long as you didn't get hurt, you-" he started to say. But I instantly slapped his hand away and moved as far back into the cage as I could get, which wasn't that far at all.

"Don't you DARE touch me with your disguisting traitor hands" I hissed, rage starting to take over my reasoning a bit. He brought his hand back towards him and looked at me as if my statement had stung. He then sighed and this set me on edge.

_He's so calm...why is he so calm?! _I thought as I clenched my teeth.

"I wish we were still on the ship. You didn't mind me holding you then" he said as he reminesced.

It took all of my will not to try and bash my way ouy of the cage like I did before.

_You promised yourself that you would stay calm and and wait. Don't let him antagonize you so easily, _I told myself as I tried to steady my breathing. "I hope you die a lonely man and burn in the depths of hell and feel the pain of the many people that have suffered by your hands" I said while glaring at him. He just smiled at me, as if my words meant nothing to him.

"Baby, as long as you live on this Earth, I wont die. We're connected by a strong bond of love. You just can't see it yet" he said.

I made a barfing sound, but he wasn't paying attention to me anymore. He stood up and looked at Melody with a fierce look on his face.

"Remember, don't kill her. Hurt her just enough so that she'll willingly come to me so that I can heal her wounds" he said to Melody. She swiftly glanced at me and sent me a look that I couldn't really comprehend before looking back at the jerk and nodding. "Bring her out" he said to the Erasers. They obeyed and started to push me out the door after Melody walked out of the room with my bag. I looked over at Jake through the cage. He smiled back at me and I growled.

"You're one sick, twisted person. I hope you fall off a cliff and splatter" I said. He only chuckled and waved at me.

"Ciao, love. Hope you do well" he said before I was rolled into the hallway. I crossed my arms and just began glaring at nothing in particular.

_I can't BELIEVE that I thought he was cute, _I fumed to myself in a disguisted tone.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.

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I found this chapter excrutiatingly funny, but I always like other people's opinion.

(Like I said in the spoiler in the previous chapter, for those of you who were toying with the idea of Jake and Ember, please don't kill me via reviews XD. It was seriously too good to resist making him the sexy bad guy with an odd obsession lol).


	18. Chapter 17: And They Said School Was

**Author's Note: **Sorry that it took so long to post this chapter up; it took me forever and a half to get the desire to edit it and make sure everything looked the way I wanted it to! And I just want to give a shout out to all of the people that have sent me reviews and ideas on how to improve my story; YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! (of course I don't mean that. I'm just trying to make you feel important XD. Hahaha I kid, I kid lol).

Anyway, continuing on...

I'm not too sure how long it will take me to post up any more chapters after this; school has just decided to become hectic (note to self: get bazooka and blow it up teehee). But enough of my ranting; continue reading and I hope I receive more wonderful thoughts and reviews from you all :D.

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**Chapter 17: And They Said School Was Supposed to Be Good for You**

"So, uh, Fang, we're flying around England and we have no idea where we're going..." said Total, who was in Iggy's arms.

I clenched my teeth together and didn't respond.

Not only were we lost because I didn't have a plan, Ms. Let's-run-away-and-get-captured was now being held at the School somewhere in London with the traitor guy that she had found on the boat as her captor.

And all of this was known by her stupid broadcastings of her thoughts that I just couldn't help but read. "Angel" I called.

"Still nothing" she replied. We've been doing this for about 10 minutes now; all of us just flying overhead and scanning the ground while Angel tried to pick up any kind of thought from anyone that knew anything about the School.

"Hey, what's that down there?" asked Nudge and we all instantly looked to where Nudge was pointing. There was a large courtyard surrounded by huge buildings. A huge crowd of people were walking into the courtyard, along with a little girl with a bag and a few other people rolling in a small crate. The mass of people only huddled near the entrance of the courtyard, some of them straining to see over the tall people. The two people that were brought in the crate now opened it up as they reached the middle of the courtyard and there was a moment of silence before I saw a person's foot make its way out.

"Plan B" I said as I quickly took a nose dive down toward the ground.

"Plan B?! Since when did we have a plan A?!" Total yelled, but I tuned him out with the roar of the wind that seemed magnified in my ears.

"Does it really matter? We're gonna get some payback on those freaks!" I heard Iggy say as we rushed toward our worst nightmare.

O::O::O::O::O::O

The exact moment that the Erasers opened the cage, I saw them back away, as if expecting me to come out with unimaginable rage. But I was oddly calm.

I sat there for a few seconds before placing my foot outside of the cage and onto the ground. I stepped out carefully, my limbs screaming in pain as I stretched and unfurled my wings. I heard a lot of gasps coming from the annoying audience behind me, but I chose not to pay too much attention to them as I breathed in a huge breath of air.

I was grateful that I could be outside and away from all of that medical crap, even though it could easily be my last time.

I tucked my wings back under my shirt; the air was so damp and it made me wings feel heavier than they really were. My senses were becoming sharper bit by bit and I kicked the cage that I was in away from me and into the far wall near the entrance where the psychopaths stood. The cage slammed into it, leaving a huge dent that left the observing whitecoats in awe.

_Wow, it's amazing what a bit of pent up anger can do to you... _I thought as I chuckled to myself. I noticed something shift slightly out of the corner of my eye, and I turned around to look toward the center of the yard to see my sister standing there with a stern look on her face. She tossed my bag aside with no sense of care and went into a fighting stance.

_Get ready,_ she commanded to me through thought.

I gave her a wry smile and shook my head.

I wasn't going to fight my sister.

That would be like adopting a puppy and then hitting it upside the head just because an insignificant little snake told me to.

And I may not be too fond of dogs, but I still couldn't do that.

The frown that she had on her face deepened as I stood there casually. _Fine then,_ she thought as she bolted toward me.

She was faster than I had expected her to be; I had to really concentrate on her in order to dodge everything that she was throwing at me. The audience was talking and some were even cheering for Melody as we fought. I glanced at them quickly, wishing they would shut up, when I felt Melody's fist jam into my chest.

It wasn't a light tap like I thought it would be. It was like the kind of punch that I would throw when I was truly pissed. My back rammed into the wall and I coughed up blood.

"Jeesh, that really hurt..." I mumbled as I wiped the blood away from my mouth, trying to catch my breath.

_Fight me!_ she demanded to me. I glanced up at her, my breath still haggard.

_No,_ I replied to her.

_Why not?!_ she thought furiously. I could feel all of her emotions as she sent me thoughts; anger, frustration, and confusion. I stood up straight, my eyes never leaving hers.

"Because I'm your sister" I said out loud.

I heard several gasps from the crowd and I turned to them and glared while yelling, "Will you all just be quiet!". Every single one of them instantly shut up and some even shrunk farther into the crowd, just in case something happened. I brought my concentration back to Melody as she stood there a few feet in front of me.

Melody's fists clenched even more, and she shot a punch toward me; she barely missed my stomach and hit the wall as I moved out of the way.

"You're lying!" she yelled as she continued to throw more punches at me, always barely missing a crucial part of my body. She stopped her barrage of fists only to jump in the air and send a kick to my head. I brought my arms up in a defensive x-position in front of my face, but the force that she put behind the attack still made the side of my head hit the wall.

"Why won't you fight?! Why won't you try and hit me?! Why, why, why!" she yelled as she continued to kick my chest and stomach.

Each hit that I took, I hacked up even more blood; and I swear I even felt one or two of my ribs crack.

But I couldn't bring myself to pull my fists up and whack her once, even though she left so many openings on her body that I could leave her in a dead heap if I hit her enough times with one of my lighter punches.

I made a split second decision, which probably wasn't the best thing to do; but of course, me losing blood at the moment, I wasn't thinking straight.

I sent myself behind Melody as she got ready to deliver another kick. I totally forgot that I had that stupid device around my neck and got shocked just enough for the rest of my energy to drain out of my body. When I came behind Melody, I almost stumbled right on her and lost conscienceness, but I forced my eyes to stay open and pulled Melody into a hug.

"I already told you...you're my sister, so I won't intentionally harm you" I said. My voice was strained, and I was ready to fall asleep, but I held her tighter to my very bruised body. At first, Melody didn't say anything at all, but I felt her hand touch my arm gently. I thought that she had finally gotten what I had been saying to her for who knows how long.

My perception was going from bad to worse.

I felt her hand tighten around my arm and before I could truly comprehend what was happening, I was being tossed toward the middle of the court yard. I felt a sharp pain go through my body as I landed and rolled to a stop on the ground, but I was too disoriented now to pinpoint where the pain was coming from.

I struggled to get up on all fours while panting heavily, even though it was less painful just laying there on the ground. I heard a shuffling sound come closer toward me before a pair of black Nikes that I knew were two sizes too small for my feet stopped in front of my line of sight.

"Stand up and fight" Melody said, and I could barely catch a faint waver in her voice. I spat out the blood that was in my mouth and chuckled.

"You're really hard of hearing, aren't you" I said as I slowly rose to my knees and looked at her.

She really did look her age now; her bottom lip quivered slightly, her eyes looked like she was holding back tears, and her small fists were held closely beside her, as if she was a kid who just threw a temper tantrum but knew it wouldn't result into them getting their way.

We stared at each other for a few seconds before she pulled back a trembling fist and aimed at my forehead. I stayed on my knees, not even flinching when she launched her attack. But, when her fist made contact to my skin, it felt more like a small tap; the kind of touch you would expect to feel when the first drop of spring rain fell on your forehead before it started drizzling.

A total hush had fallen over the crowd as we all stood there, expecting something violent to begin again. But Melody just fell to her knees and broke down crying, hugging herself as the tears careened down her face.

"My sister is gone! Sh-she hates me! She dropped me and l-left me 'cuz I w-would c-c-cause her too much trouble and sh-sh-she won't come back 'cuz she hates me!" Melody sobbed.

My eyes widened as she explained and cried her little eyes out while holding herself tighter. I tuned out the sharp pain in my chest, the huge knot that was swelling up on the side of my head, the fact that my body was sore all over.

I just wanted to comfort her; to hold Melody in my arms and tell her that everything would be ok. I reached my hand out toward her shaking body, but something else stole my attention.

I heard someone in the crowd of whitecoats saying, "This is boring. Give me that thing!", and another person saying, "Don't put it on that level!".

The next thing I knew, Melody was screaming for pain, and I could actually see the electricity surround her body. I sat there watching, my expression like one of disbelief and my mouth slightly opened, but no sound escaped from me. Melody finally fell face first to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

There was complete silence for about five seconds.

My body felt numb and unresponsive, but as time passed, I could feel the anger and hate bubble to the surface of my skin and it made me feel tingly all over as small tears began to slowly make its way down my face.

"MELODY!" I screamed as I stood up suddenly with my fists glued to my sides.

My mind was blank; I couldn't even comprehend what had just happened.

My eyes must have been lying to me as I took the entire scene in and drilled it to my retinas.

She wasn't on the ground right now.

We weren't in the stupid School of England and being tortured.

We weren't trying to fight for our lives.

But that in itself was just me trying to fool my own self.

I saw Melody struggle to get up, being very unsuccessful but trying anyway. What a trooper.

My head swivelled in the direction that I had heard the voices coming from. All of the whitecoats who were watching had backed away even further toward the entrance, cowering in total fear, clearly afraid of what this might do to me.

Only one Eraser stood ahead of the group, and it just so happened that it was the Eraser whom I had the pleasure of burning today. He had a toothy grin on his face and a small device that looked like a TV remote. My teeth clenched together and I launched myself at him before I could even think about it.

_This time, I will do more than just burn his finger,_ I thought furiously.

The Eraser didn't even move; he just raised up the remote and said, "Die, bitch" before pressing a big red button.

You know, the button you're never supposed to press, now matter how enticing it may look.

My body instantly stopped in its place and I fell to the ground, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as I felt tidal waves of electricity course through me. My mind began to fade away, and after about four seconds, the pain started to dull as my vision blurred.

_So this is where it ends for me... and I couldn't even save my sister from this hell hole..._ I thought.

I might have chuckled out loud if I wasn't already paralyzed and sinking deeper into a calm darkness.

Suddenly, a loud booming sound literally entered one ear and out the other. I felt the impact of small things hitting my skin, but by that time, I was so gone.

I didn't care anymore about the now insignificant events that were happening around me.

I had disappeared; completely leaving the vulgar scene behind me with wonderful relief.

I was free.

I was done.


	19. Chapter 18: Fatality

**Author's Note:** Okay, even though I did say that I wouldn't be able to post in awhile in the last chapter, I still didn't think it would take me _this _long, and for that, I deeply apologize (even though I'm sure the few of you who were reading this have already discarded it as story that would be left unfinished lol). I also blame it on myself because I didn't really have the the drive to write and when I did, it came out crappy in my opinion, so hopefully at least one of you will think otherwise XD.

Well, enough of my apologies; ON WITH THE STORY!!! (p.s. reviews. send them, for i adore them. enjoy!)

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****Chapter 18: Fatality**

I heard something-no, somebody call my name.

Screaming it actually.

The darkness that was surrounding me was scaring me. It was numbing me, making it hard to move, but I struggled to reach the small ray of light that was above me, just barely out of reach. I still had something to do...something...but what was it? I couldn't remember for the life of me.

But the light was hurting me as I inched closer to it. The darkness now seemed soothing, inviting. I stopped trying to force my body through the still current of unending night and let myself float away from the light, smiling to myself as it grew dimmer.

No more pain, no more sadness.

_Hey you,_ said a voice out of nowhere. I was surprised that there was anyone here other than me in this darkened wasteland.

"Are you referring to me?" I asked, my own voice sounding foreign to me.

_Yes, you. My so-called-sister. Did you already forget about me?_ questioned the voice. My eyes widened.

Melody.

The person I came to save.

The reason that I needed to stop wasting time in this God forsaken darkness.

I reached my hand towards the light, fighting the numbness in my body again, trying to reach her voice.

_If you're really my sister, then don't leave me here again by myself. Please don't leave me here to die..._ pleaded the voice, sadness running through every word. I felt tears come to my eyes and pain seep into my skin as I touched the warm light.

"I promise I won't leave you anymore," I replied, the warmth running through my body.

O::O::O::O::O::O

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling like a rag doll that had been tossed around one time too many. The very first thing I saw was Fang looking down at me with wide, frantic eyes, and above him was a bomb that had apparently just went off and Iggy flying through the smoke with a sadistic grin on his face.

What a nice thing to see when you just wake up from being dead.

Fang took a sigh of relief when he saw that I had opened my eyes and gave me a smug smile as I sat up clutching my head.

"You look like crap," he said. Ah, isn't he so sympathetic.

"I feel like crap," I replied as I took a quick look around.

Erasers were all over the place; in the air fighting with Iggy and Gazzy, on the ground fighting with some whitecoats, and some that were just laying on the ground in awkward positions. Fang and I were in one of the corners of the courtyard, his back facing the destruction while in a protective crouch.

He was protecting me while I was out of it. I wanted to say thank you but this wasn't the time or the place to be all sentimental.

"Where is she," I said, not even asking politely.

He pointed across the courtyard near the other corner where Melody lay on the ground while Nudge and Angel fought some Erasers nearby. "Get everyone out of here," I said, standing up slowly so that I wouldn't fall back to the ground. Fang immediately stood up in front of me and blocked my way.

"We didn't come all the way over here because we had a death wish you know," he said with a slight ferociousness in his voice.

"No one told you to come in the first place," I said harshly as I tried to walk past him.

I knew I was being an ungrateful little witch after they had come busting in and basically saved my life, but I didn't know what else to do. I wasn't sure if my sister was ok or not, and I didn't want anybody else to get hurt because of me.

Fang grabbed my arm and I spun around to glare at him. "We're not leaving here without you," he said with a determined look on his face. His eyes were fierce, as if he would personally drag me out of here alive if he had to.

I wouldn't put it past him to do just that.

My expression softened and I nodded once, now a bit glad that I wouldn't have to face my miserable life alone. He let go of me and smirked.

"I guess facing death made you easier to talk with," he said as he opened up his wings and swiftly took off to help Iggy and Gazzy. I rolled my eyes, opened up my own wings and sped through the crowd of Erasers like a torpedo, delivering kicks right and left. I especially enjoyed smashing the face of the Eraser that had "killed me" into the wall with my own hands before rushing to the aid of Melody.

"EMBER!" yelled Nudge and Angel after they had finished off a group of Erasers. They landed next to me and gave me hugs, which also reminded me of the hits that I had received earlier. I patted them both on their heads before detaching myself from them.

"We gotta go," I said as I attempted to scoop Melody up into my arms. She was really heavy for an 8 year old.

They both nodded once just before another group of Erasers had started to come through the entrance of the courtyard. They looked ready to tear us limb from limb, and considering how much damage we had already taken, it wouldn't be too hard for them to do it.

Angel and Nudge kept the crowd at bay and started pounding away at any new Erasers that had joined in the fight. I turned my back toward the fighting, which wasn't the most smartest thing to do, but I was desperate, and put my hands on Melody's shoulders. "Wake up, wake up!" I said frantically while shaking her.

But her eyes stayed closed and for a second, she seemed like a little sleeping child with nothing but sweet dreams as she leaned against the wall.

Panic rose up in my chest and my eyes felt wet. "I just found you again. Don't leave me here. You made me promise, so you have to promise, too" I choked, trying to hold back tears. The seconds ticked by, and still nothing happened.

_This really can't be happening... _I thought to myself as I gave my tear ducts free reign to do whatever. Suddenly, I felt Melody touch the sleeve of my shirt, and I was so happy that I would have given her a death grip of a hug right then and there if two things didn't happen at that moment.

The Eraser that had almost caused me so much grief had suddenly come up behind me and was about to shred my head into tiny little chunks of bird-girl pieces. I heard Angel and Nudge yelling at me to watch out, but for some reason, my body was frozen. I just stared with a confused look on my face as Melody opened her eyes. I watched as her lips turned up in a small smile.

"Die," she murmured.

My eyes widened slightly and I heard a loud thunk coming from behind me. My hands trembled as I began to hear similar noises all around me, as if people were falling from the sky.

That actually wasn't too far from the truth.

My mind was racing with fear as Melody closed her eyes again, her breath coming in and out shakily, as if just saying a word had taken more out of her than she could have maintained. Everyone surrounded me seconds later and Fang handed me my bag.

"What...what just happened?" Nudge asked.

"They all just stopped and started falling," said Gazzy in confusion.

"I...I think Melody...tried to kill them..." I said, surprised that I could talk without my voice giving off how scared I was. Fang looked around the courtyard.

"Well, she succeeded a little bit," he said.

"What about the rest of them?" Iggy asked.

"They're only unconscious, and so is she," Angel said. I swallowed down my fear, put my bag on my shoulders, and lifted Melody up, despite her weight.

"We should probably leave before they wake up," I said as I stood up. They nodded and we all shot up into the damp air.

I only glanced back once as we sped away to see a glimpse of something black shift away from view from one of the top windows. My blood ran cold and I shuddered while tightening my hold on Melody and bringing her closer to me.

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	20. Chapter 19: Hakuna Matata

**Author's Note:** Yes, I know that this chapter may seem a bit random to some people, as will the next chapter that I will post (***cough SPOILER cough***), but trust me, it all leads to something that I'm still in the process of writing, so just be patient and bear with me...please lol. (hey, the awesome bird-kids do need to have a break once in awhile ya' know).

So maybe one or two people will enjoy the next few chapters (once again **SPOILER**), but I will definitly appreciate reviews (grr, i can never spell that word right...definetly...definitly...definietly...grr w/e lol). Enjoy!

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****Chapter 19: Hakuna Matata**

We had only been flying for 20 minutes and we were a good distance away from the School, but we didn't want to take any chances and kept on flying North-Northwest near a forest. I was following behind the flock, feeling the weight of everything on my body.

The unconscious Melody in my arms, the bag on my back, the feathers on my wings, the skin attached to me.

_God, why am I so drained? Oh yeah, maybe it's because I was actually dead for who knows how long,_ I thought, feeling myself slowly lose altitude.

I guess Fang noticed this because he was suddenly by my side with the tips of our wings touching. "You ok?" he asked and I nodded my head, keeping my eyes focused straight ahead.

I saw him hold out his arms toward me out of the corner of my eye and I knew what he wanted. My grip tightened around Melody and I felt the pain in my chest as I pressed her closer to me.

"I can handle it" I said, but my voice sounded slurred and I suddenly felt lightheaded. My eyes fluttered closed and I felt myself begin to fall. All I could hear was the sound of air rushing past me and Fang yelling to Iggy about something.

_Hm, this feels nice. I should keep my eyes closed...Oh God, pain!_ I suddenly thought as I abruptly came to a stop and felt strong arms holding me up. I struggled to open my eyes just to see a black fabric in front of me.

"Jeesh, you're more trouble than you're worth" I heard Fang say.

"Then stop carrying me. I'm too heavy for you anyways" I murmured, feeling very odd in Fang's arms.

"I don't think I will" he said and the low tenor of his voice rumbled through his chest and sent vibrations in my arm. I thought I had sensed a double meaning to his words and I felt my cheeks become slightly warmer than they should.

_I must still have some drugs in my system or else I wouldn't be this tired,_ I thought as I dismissed the presumption from my mind.

"Where's Melody?" I asked, now aware that I wasn't holding her.

"She's fine. Iggy has her" he responded in a far-off tone, as if he was thinking about something. I was just about to protest against him holding me anymore; I mean, this was way too embarrassing; when Fang called to the rest of the flock. "Let's check this place out" he said and he angled his wings slightly so that we began to descend in a tight spiral.

We eventually landed after examining out what looked like a huge abandoned cabin in the middle of the forest. Fang looked around while still holding me. "Angel, you picking up anything?" he asked.

"No, it's clear" she replied, sounding tired.

"Um...can you put me down now?" I asked. My head felt less muddled, and I was certain that I would be able to walk without any assistance.

"Your wish is my command" he replied as he set me upright on my feet. I rolled my eyes at him and started toward Iggy.

"Just great. I have to get saved by a wannabe knight in tattered black clothes" I mumbled, but I knew he heard it.

"And I had to save the retarded princess who has a knack for trying to get herself killed" he retorted. I scowled at him after taking Melody in my arms and the rest of the flock laughed.

That word brought back things that I didn't want to remember.

We walked toward the cabin, alert as always, and Iggy managed to pick the lock.

As the door swung open, our eyes roved around the scene and took it all in hungrily. The place looked amazing!

In the kitchen, there was a simple stove with pine cabinets hanging near it overhead in a row, a little nook with those chairs that spin around like the ones in bars, and a stainless steel fridge that looked as if it could store three adult Labrador retrievers. The living room was placed smack-dab in the middle of the first floor; in front of it sat a huge fireplace and a comfy looking couch that could easily seat five of us without being cramped. There were four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and another room that had a small TV that wasn't plugged in and several game systems stored neatly in cabinet nearby. Shelves upon shelves of books were found in almost every room, and I could tell how everyone was feeling just by looking at their shocked expressions.

Paradise.

Nudge immediately started raiding the fridge while Gazzy went to play some Gears of War and Iggy started getting used to his new surroundings. I put Melody on the couch gently before dragging my body up the stairs, went into the nearest room; which happened to be the best room, in my opinion, with a beautiful window view of the landscape, a huge closet packed with clothes that looked like they could actually fit me, and two beds of one side by side.

I turned around to close the door so that I could get some sleep when I saw Fang leaning against the banister with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face, as if he was about to cause some mischief. He was about to say something when Angel came bounding up the stairs and stood between us with a huge smile on her face.

"Can I sleep with you?" she asked eagerly. I noticed Fang's smirk fall slightly and I glanced at him with a questioning look. But he just shook his head and turned my attention back to Angel.

"Well...I guess it would-" I started.

"That's not fair!" said a voice, and we all looked as Melody rushed up the stairs and came to stand by my side. "I'm gonna sleep with her!" she said as if she owned me.

_Wasn't she unconscious a few minutes ago? _I thought wearily, just wanting to go to sleep. This soon became a heated battle between Angel and Melody, and I could hear Melody's mind tinkering away on some not so nice ideas. I glanced at Fang with a slight pleading look. He just shrugged, looking like he was having a good old time watching me fail at being able to handle two little girls.

Good for nothing butt head.

I pulled Melody's arm and stood between both of them with my hands on top of their heads. They probably would've started a fist fight if I hadn't intervened.

"Melody, you'll sleep with me" I said. She jumped up and down, stuck out her tongue at Angel, and ran into the room while doing a belly-flop onto the bed nearest the closet. I looked back at Angel, who was pouting with her arms crossed.

She looked like she was about to throw a tantrum; or maybe she was planning on forcing my body to run into another tree.

I sighed and squatted down so that I could look her in the eye. "You can stay in my room and hang out whenever you want" I said wearily.

We were all battered and bruised with scratches, black eyes, cut lips, and so on. So how in the world did these kids find the energy to almost get into an all out brawl over a room. _A_ _room_!

But despite my thoughts, Angel's face lit up and she hugged me before dashing down the hall; I guess to claim the next best room. I stood up, shot Fang a dirty look, and he just shrugged his shoulders again, his smirk returning back on his face. I rolled my eyes before walking into my room that I apparently now shared with Melody and closed the door behind me.

She was fast asleep on the other bed, and I shook my head and plopped into the bed near the window, letting my body relax as I sank into a peaceful sleep.

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	21. Chapter 20: Cabin Fever

**Chapter 20: Cabin Fever**

Hallways and hallways of beautiful architecture.

The floors are spotless and have a complicated design continuing on down more halls.

The ceiling dancing with lights from the shining glass of the chandeliers hanging down elegantly.

Throughout the hallway, rows of tall windows that reached the ceiling showed a sea of roses, tulips, and other flowers that I didn't even know existed.

I could hear voices of a lot of men and women, and I turned toward the sound only to see a boy walking toward me with a small smile. He took my hand and we walked down the hall, passing many extravagant looking rooms, paintings, sculptures, and other artistic things.

We finally stopped in front of a room with the door wide open. The young boy quietly knocked the door with his knuckles to announce our arrival before towing me into the room. Standing in the middle of the room in a small little circle were four adults; two men and two women; but I couldn't see any of their faces, like one of those cartoon on TV that show all of the parents bodies but cut off at their necks.

However, I was more amazed at the room that we were in. It was a nursery; maybe the kind that Bill Gates would have built for his children if he was the ruler of the world or something. The room was a bit too girly for my taste, though. Way too much pink

One of the ladies, the one wearing the beautiful cream dress that hugged her upper body but gently flowed down to the floor, bent down and held her arms out to me, and I disentangled my hand from the boys and walked toward her. She lifted me up in her arms without any difficulty, and I instantly felt safe and secure, as if nothing bad would ever happen to me because she was there. And although I had no idea who she was, I lifted my face up to her and beamed. But all I could see was an outline of her face as she looked down at me, the lights from the chandeliers above making her seem like a guardian angel.

My guardian angel.

I blinked once from a sudden pain in my chest and the picture seemed to fade and was replaced by a new image; a younger version of myself, maybe nine years old, laughing and twirling in an extravagant rose-colored dress that clung to my small figure. Embedded into it were jewels that shimmered and glistened as I twirled around in a young man's arms.

The features of his face seemed oddly familiar, but before I could actually make a connection, another pain sent me to a different place. I was in a plane, staring through the window and trying to see through the darkness.

I was leaving my home.

My sanctuary, the one with the beautiful garden that I could walk through and feel comfort in.

Then it hit me.

These were all of my memories from way back when; the one that I had stashed in my head and filed away as "never think of them again". I had almost forgotten about them, forgotten about my past, but tonight, my mind had decided to remind me so that I could never forget again.

O::O::O::O::O::O

My dream faded away slowly as I kept feeling the sharp pain in my chest, as if I was being dissected with a small butter knife or something. I opened my eyes slowly, feeling slight warmth on my cheek coming from the window. I felt another source of heat nearby and I glanced down to see hair directly under my chin. Melody was in my bed, curled up next to me, and she was poking me in the same spot where she had earlier punched and kicked me several times.

Which, indeed, still hurt like hell.

"Must you do that?" I asked quietly, listening outside the room for any sound.

"Yes" she replied simply, continuing to poke me with a small smile on her face.

"Why?" I asked, sucking in a sharp breath as she poked my stomach this time, even though it wasn't as sore as my upper chest.

"Because it's fun to see you make funny faces in your sleep" she said and she looked at me with a childlike smile.

_Those bastard scientists made her sadistic. Revenge on them will be so sweet,_ I thought darkly.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes, listening to the Flock being busy downstairs. But my thought process was disrupted when Melody also sat up and hugged me suddenly while burying her face against my shoulder. I was slightly surprised when she started to cry silently, but I smiled and held her as close as my pain tolerance would allow me to go.

All of these years she had to put on a brave face, never showing any fear.

But she was only a kid. She also needed someone's shoulder to cry on every once in awhile, no matter how tough she wanted to seem to other people.

So I let her cry and kissed her forehead lightly. She reeked of that disgusting medical School smell, so I made it my first priority to make her take a shower...after I had thoroughly checked the house out that is.

I heard a knock on the door, and as Fang poked his head in, I gave him a "who dares disturb this moment" kind of look.

"I guess you really did care about your laptop" he said as he stepped in.

I grinned slightly and said, "I couldn't find one that was even worth the trip there". I took in his new wardrobe and mentally approved of it; he was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with a red fox insignia on it. The shirt clung to his upper chest, accentuating that he did indeed have some muscle that he was hiding away from the world.

_God, he really looks good in that,_ I thought.

"Found it in one of the closets" he said as he saw me inspecting it. I rubbed my eyes again, yawned, and looked out the window to distract me from gazing any longer at his chest before ideas came to my mind.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"Only a few hours" he said with a tone of voice that made me want to look back at him to see his expression. But I forced myself to continue looking out the window.

The little ray of sunlight that I had felt when I had woken up had hidden behind a huge cloud, and it didn't seem like it wanted to come out again.

"I checked downstairs. Nothing seems out of the ordinary except for the packed fridge and this" Fang said as he passed me a small black book. I raised an eyebrow and took it with some difficulty, considering that Melody was still holding me and burying her head in my shoulder. I had to put her in my lap so that I would have both of my hands free.

When I opened it, I instantly realized by the way it was written that it was a diary. I skipped to the last page, not too sure what could really be interesting for Fang to bring this to me. As I got to the last page, I skimmed the words, then had to go back and reread it more carefully.

_"June 24, 2010._

_I have to leave this house. Away from that place. If I stay any longer, they might find me. I only moved to this spot to keep an eye on that place, just in case any word got out about my kids. _

_But even with my job protecting me both here and in the U.S., I can't be too careless, no matter how much I miss them._

_Truthfully, I would have stayed in the U.S. if I didn't get a tip saying that one of them was here; it might be Ember or Melody; I don't know. _

_But what I do know is that I must stay in England and try to get them back from that place, regardless of which child it is. And even though I had to burn all of the pictures that I had of them because it was too painful, I can still remember their faces as clear as day. They were always in my thoughts, and whenever I slept, I would dream of them. I would always bring their fainted images closer to me, and it would make me feel a bit better, as if they were just an arms length away._

_But sometimes I wonder if I'm just hugging an illusion._

_I can't always think like that. I have to keep at least one optimistic thought with me._

_As long as they're alive, everything will be fine. I think I'll leave everything here except for the important stuff, just in case I need to come back. _

_I'm really grateful to Chuck. He was able to modify the fridge so that the food never spoils. I'll have to ask him how to do that."_

The last entry ended there, and all I could do was stare at the page as if the words were in some random gibberish that I couldn't understand.

My mom _lived_ in THIS house only a month ago. We had only missed her by maybe a few weeks at most, and now she had disappeared to who knows where.

I sighed, closed the book, and put it down by my side on the bed. I didn't want to think right now; I didn't want to feel numb from stress just yet. Melody held me tighter; she was probably thinking the same thing as she read the page through my eyes using that new power that we both seemed to have. Fang leaned against the door frame and looked at me calmly.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" he asked. I noticed Melody peak at Fang through the hair that covered her eyes, and now that I actually had time to take a good look at her, it shocked me how long her hair was in person.

"I don't know" I said, resting my cheek on the top of Melody's head. "Probably take a breather and chill out here for a bit".

"Well, if that's the case, we're gonna have to think of a plan. At this rate, the food in that fridge isn't going to last long" he said.

"Why? Are you guys gonna stay here, too?" I asked.

"Yeah" he said, giving me a questioning look.

"You know that you don't have to. I mean, you saved my butt and helped me save my sister while putting your lives on the line, and I don't know where we're gonna go from here when we leave, and if we hung with you guys we could cause trouble for the Flock..." I rambled. I had never felt so much gratitude to anyone before and knowing that I could probably never pay them back nagged at my conscience.

Fang only closed his eyes and shook his head at me, as if I was missing something important.

"You still don't get it, do you?" he asked.

"Get what?" I wondered, now confused and a bit miffed that he had interrupted my monologue.

He opened his eyes and looked back at me with amusement. "You're part of the flock now. And in case you haven't noticed, we stay together" he said simply.

I raised my head and looked at him, truly lost for words.

They were accepting us in their group after all of the times that they could've been killed, even when I had just deserted them without an explanation or even a goodbye. Fang turned to walk out the door after a few silent seconds had passed between us, but I didn't want him to leave without me saying anything at all.

"Thanks" was all I could manage to get out of my mouth, and I mentally slapped myself.

I could've done better than that, like "Thanks for saving my life", or "Thanks for helping me save my sister and following me all the way here even though I left", or even "Thanks for just _being _there" would have been good ones.

But he seemed to get what I was saying and turned back around with mischief dancing in his eyes, as if he was planning something. "Anytime, princess" he said calmly.

And this just ticked me off.

"Is there any particular reason why you are calling me that?" I asked, my mouth now in a frown.

"Actually, there is" he said matter-of-factly, and tossed me a few pages that were pressed together in an envelope style manner. I became confused as I flattened them out.

"What do the pictures that I drew have to do with anything?" I asked.

"On the back, stupid" he said while crossing his arms and looking as if he was anticipating something. I turned to the back of one of the pages and as I scanned the words that were there, I became more and more mad by the second.

"You. Shower. Now" I ordered Melody, who was now also looking at the pages out of curiosity.

She looked at me in silent shock and when she realized that I had meant it, and she glared at Fang; I guess because she thought he was doing something to make me kick her out of the room; but she got up and walked out without a word, and I could hear the seemingly endless stream of profanities flow through her mind.

But I wasn't paying too much attention to her vulgar vocabulary, because the words that were on the page were my own thoughts that had gone through my mind when I was on my way to England.

Every single thought.

That was probably why my head was constantly hurting. I was so used to putting my thoughts on paper that I was unconsciously writing in my diary pages.

And Fang had read every single one.

Instead of getting out of bed and punching him square in the face; my chest was starting to hurt even more; I crumbled all of the pages into a little tiny ball and set them on fire right then and there, letting my anger fuel it to make it easier to make. "Maybe I _should_ leave and never come back" I said when the pages were reduced to nothing but ash.

But suddenly, Total came bounding into the room, jumped on my bed, and came as close to my face as he could with a menacing look on his face. "If you EVER leave us again, I WILL hunt you down and dismantle you! You got that?!" he demanded. I raised up my hands in defense and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Ok, ok. I got it" I replied.

"Promise me you won't leave again!" he said with a voice that actually made me believe that he would hurt me if I didn't, even though I was more than four times his height.

"I promise, I promise" I said, trying to calm him down.

"Well, now that _that's_ settled..." said Fang from the doorway, and I glared at him as if this was all his fault.

Which it kinda was.

Nudge poked her head through the door with a questioning look on her face. "Hey guys, do you smell something burning, like paper on fire? And has anyone seen my pictures?" she asked.

Her eyes instantly spotted the black ashes that were now on the floor, and she instantly jumped to conclusions as I looked guiltily at her. "YOU SET MY PICTURES ON FIRE?!" she shrieked as she came into the room and plopped herself down on the floor, picking up the ashes as if she was mourning a dead pet fish.

"They're only pictures " Total scoffed while he rolled his eyes, but Nudge only shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"How would you like it if I burned 'Mona Lisa'?" she retorted, and Total glared at her.

"You wouldn't dare..." he muttered dangerously, but Nudge ignored him and sighed.

"I really liked those pictures..." she grieved, probably because I made her look really good in them.

"I can make you another one, though it won't be the same" I said.

"Yay!" she exclaimed as she instantly jumped up and hugged me, making my chest hurt even more.

"Oh begezzus, you guys are gonna kill me" I gasped under the pressure of Nudge's hug.

So yeah; my first day in the cabin full of weirdos. I now had a clingy sister, a protective talking dog, an annoying Fang who I didn't get at all, and a family full of humongous eaters.

Well, at least we could all take a shower and didn't smell like we had been drenched in antiseptic.

Life truly has gotten interesting.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.

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**Author's Note (man it seems I'm making alot of these lately XD) :** This chapter was mainly for a little breathing room for the characters (hey they couldn't always be on the run could they? Then the story would be a little repetitive and boring lol).

Anyway, I demand that you all send me reviews!...pretty please XD.


	22. Chapter 21: Paging Dr Iggy

**Author's Note:** Once again, I did say how much these next few chapters were going to suck, but it all does lead to something awesome I assure you. But I wouldn't mind reviews on how I can make it better (because seriously, it really needs some work lol. I was in my 'I dont feel like writing but I have nothing else to do mood and this was the resultant...yeah, bad idea XD).

So yeah. Reviews. Need. Please lol.

**

* * *

****Chapter 21: Paging Dr. Iggy**

The next day, when I woke up, I wasn't feeling too well.

Okay, maybe that's an understatement. I felt like crap.

Every time I took a breath, no matter how small it was, my chest started to hurt. But it wasn't like I was going to stop breathing all together just to stop the pain. This wasn't the first time that I had broken something in my body. But I still stayed in the room for most of the morning, only coming downstairs to eat about 3 plates of bacon and scrambled eggs with six slices of bread with butter and two cups of hot chocolate.

Hey, a girl's gotta' eat.

After that, I went to take a quick shower in some cool water, which felt nice against my skin. Even though the pain in my chest seemed to worsen, I didn't say anything to anybody about it and holed myself up in my room again. I kept my mind busy by actually picking up my mom's diary and reading it from the very beginning, getting to know her. I learned why we had left our home in England; apparently, Jake's parents were really into scientific experiments.

And I'm not talking about little chemical play sets or trying to find a cure for cancer. More like "putting fish and dog DNA together and seeing if the product can hiss like a snake" kind of experiments.

They were crazy, but sane enough to try and recruit my dad in with their weird ideas. I was also engaged to their son, Jake, and who knows what would have happened if that actually had went as plan. The thought sent shivers down my spine, but I continued to read. After several years, good old mom found out about this and thought that the only way to solve the problem was to leave and start a new life so that they wouldn't find us. We moved to Ohio and only kept our first names the same because they were so common in the U.S. Mom thought that if we kept moving every 2 years or so, we would be fine.

She was obviously wrong because we were found in a matter of months.

I tried to continue reading, but I was interrupted by Fang, who knocked on my door before walking in without waiting for my approval. I had totally tuned out the pain in my chest while I was reading, and now that Fang had snapped me back to reality, I realized just how much pain I was in. He just stood there asking if I was ok, and each time I answered yes, his frown would grow deeper.

I actually had to throw a pillow at him before he decided to leave.

Only minutes later, everyone started coming up to my room one by one, and it was really irritating, not only because I was in pain but I couldn't read the stupid diary in peace. First, Angel poked her head in and gave me a cute little get well card with a picture of a stick figure girl with lines jutting out of her sides; I guess to serve the purpose of wings. I smiled, thanked her, and told her to go play with Gazzy and that I'd be fine.

Melody came in and continuously apologized for hurting me and I had to ensure her that it wasn't her fault; a total bold-faced lie, but I had to make her feel better, didn't I?

Nudge came in with my laptop and a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. She asked me if I had drawn any more pictures, and when I said no, she walked dejectedly out of the room. I chuckled to myself, making a mental note to draw Nudge as a famous model on a runway or something.

I turned on my laptop and decided to go play a computer game for no apparent reason since I didn't want to research anything at the moment. The first thing to come up as I clicked the Internet icon was my homepage, which happened to be Yahoo. Not only was it a good search engine and Web page with several links to other cool websites, it also had small articles that you could read; usually about ways to save money and things that are "good" to maintain a diet. Those kinds of things really cracked me up.

Well, today of all days when I needed to be distracted from the continuous pain coming from my chest, I decided to take a quick look at the articles that they had on the homepage today. The first three articles were a waste of my time; how to get tax relief from "the man", the things that you should recycle, and how many calories were in the Top 10 desserts of America. Boring. I wasn't even going to look at the last article, but of course, curiosity got the best of me, and I ended up scrolling over the preview to see what it was about. It was an article about blind people, and how their senses seemed to become more acute, especially their senses of hearing and touch.

To most people, this wouldn't even seem remotely interesting and they would continue on their merry way. But this gave me an idea. Iggy was a blind kid and all of his senses were enhanced more than I thought was even possible. And even though this was a far-fetched idea, maybe he could feel with his hand if I had taken more damage than I thought I did. I was surely in a lot more pain than I thought I would be. I got up from my bed and instantly felt pain but tried to not show it on my face, because I'm just stubborn enough not to show weakness.

I walked out of my room and looked out over the banister, watching as everyone was doing their own thing. Angel and Melody was coloring on pieces of paper while laying on their stomachs and swinging their legs in the air. Gazzy was in the other room playing video games; I could tell by the heroic music and the way he yelled, "Die you stupid aliens!". Nudge was sprawled over a Lay-Z-Boy chair; where she got it, I don't know. Iggy was tinkering with something mechanical; I assumed it was yet another bomb, and Fang was sitting on the couch with his back facing me in front of the not lit fireplace doing something with Total right beside him. My idea seemed to shrivel as I thought twice about it, but my mouth was already moving before I could chicken out.

"Hey, Iggy. Could you come up here for a sec? I need your help" I said. Total, Angel, and Melody looked up at me with smiles on their faces, obviously glad that I seemed ok. Fang glanced at me before looking over at Iggy with a slight confusion as Iggy stood up.

"Yeah, sure" he said as he walked toward the stairs, and I noticed how he paced his steps so that it would match up with his memory of the place. I took his hand as he reached the last step and led him to the bathroom, feeling Fang's eyes fellow us until the wall blocked his view.

I tried to stay calm as I opened the bathroom door, brought him inside with me, and locked the door. My mind may have been revolving around pain all morning, but I wasn't stupid. I knew that I could be making a huge, gigantic, enormous mistake and embarrassing myself to no apparent end, not to mention subject Iggy to something that probably didn't have to be done, but I had to try something. Iggy turned his head from right to left, as if he could actually see his surroundings.

"Are we in the bathroom?" he wondered, feeling the cool tiles on the wall.

"Yep" I said, but it was a bit muffled considering I had my shirt over my head, exposing my black training bra. I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, not because we were cramped in a bathroom; believe me, the bathroom was huge, probably the size of a walk-in closet that a rich model would want to have. The real reason was because it was just so awkward being in a bathroom with a guy, especially with Iggy, someone I barely knew.

"What are you doing...?" he asked, his voice guarded as I put my shirt on the counter.

I grounded my teeth together in frustration. How the hell was I supposed to tell him this? 'Oh, I just need you to touch my chest to see if your sense of touch could see if something was abnormal about my ribs?'

... Yeah, I guess I could tell him that. I had nothing else to say up my sleeve.

"Are you gonna try and molest me or something? 'Cuz I can assure you that I'm not into you or anything..." he stated, a blush coming over his cheeks as he took a small step toward the door. I couldn't help myself; I busted out laughing so hard that I was doubled over, both in pain and because I couldn't stop laughing.

"Ow, ow, ow..." I began to say as I struggled to compose myself again, the pain now winning over the laughter. Iggy's face instantly changed into one of confusion and concern as he took a step closer to me.

"You're in pain?" he asked. I stood up to my full height, taking a breath, which caused even more pain. "I think I broke some ribs or something; I can't tell. And I know that this is so far-fetched and I shouldn't get any real ideas from the internet, but I was hoping if you could try and see what's wrong" I said.

"Ok...?" he said uncertainly, obviously confused because he didn't know how he could help my situation. But despite all of that, I took his hand and placed it near my body where it hurt the most.

"Touch anywhere besides this spot and I will rip your arms off" I warned. Iggy gave me a nervous smirk, and I swear I could see his mind start to tinker away.

What a pervert.

I brought his hand near the bottom of my rib, but as soon as I did, he drew his hand away from me as if he had been burned and his unseeing eyes grew wide.

"What?" I asked, now worried.

"That was freaky..." he mumbled to himself.

"What, what?!" I asked, now a bit frustrated that he wouldn't tell me. But Iggy only brought his hand back to the lower part of my chest and kept it there this time, his mouth slightly open in awe.

I was about to slap him if he didn't say anything. "What's going on?" I asked again.

"I...can see..." he mumbled.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	23. Chapter 22: Well, Aren't You Funny

**Chapter 22: Well, Aren't You Funny**

I blinked once and stared at Iggy for a few moments, fighting a blush. He still looked as blind as ever, but if he really could see, the first thing he would see is me, shirtless, with him touching my skin, in the bathroom together...

"What do you mean you can see?" I asked, trying to keep embarrassment out of my voice.

Failing miserably.

"...I can see the inside of your body. Like x-ray vision, but more in-depth. I can see your muscles, your blood, and even some of the cells if I concentrate enough" he said.

And then he just went crazy; skimming his fingers over my arms, my shoulders, my toes, my cheeks my head. He would've been punched in the face if I wasn't giggling so much.

"That tickles" I said, trying not to laugh too hard as his fingers lightly brushed against my arm for the third time.

"Oh, sorry" he replied, only to move to the top of my head. "Jeesh, your brain is huge!" he exclaimed, as if this surprised him.

I rolled my eyes. "No duh. Now what about my ribs?" I asked. Iggy blinked once, as if coming out of a daze.

"Huh?" he asked, completely lost.

He really, really was gonna get it.

"My ribs. The bone in my body. The only reason why we're in here and you're touching me like this" I said a little harshly. But he only gave me a sheepish smile with an apologetic look on his face.

"Oh. Right. Sorry 'bout that" he said before placing his hand back to my lower chest with no problem at all, as if he memorized my body.

He probably did.

"What's the diagnoses, doc?" I asked after a few minutes of silence and Iggy's fingers lightly touching my skin.

"Nothing major. It's just a small fracture, and it looks like it's almost healed. You just have to relax and take it easy. I think there's a heat pad in one of those cabinets" Iggy said. I chuckled as I opened the cabinet nearest me and started rummaging through it.

"A surgeon in the making. Unless you're a whitecoat in disguise" I said, finally finding the heat patches.

"Oh, ha ha, that's so funny" he said as he rolled his eyes. "Are we done here?"

"Yeah, thanks" I said after I put a patch on and put on my shirt.

"Good. Now I can try and work on smaller bombs to inject into the body" Iggy said with a menacing smile. I shook my head and unlocked the door with a smile on my face.

"You're demented" I said and walked through the door. Instead of going downstairs to enjoy the afternoon with everyone else as they witnessed Iggy's new skill first hand, I decided to take his advice and go back to sleep.

Being injured sucks.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	24. Chapter 23: What's Your Answer?

**Chapter 23 : What's Your Answer?**

I woke up an hour or two later and I instantly sat up and yawned. I glanced out to window to see that it was dark outside, maybe 8 or 9 p.m. Out of habit, I stretched, but immediately stiffened and waited for the pain to come. But it was no longer there...or, to be more specific, I could actually take a breath without wincing. I still couldn't move my body into any extreme positions, but that was better than not being able to move at all.

And besides, I needed to get out of that bed. I felt like a sick old lady. But before I could even swing my legs over the side, Angel and Melody barged in with determined looks on their faces.

"How are you feeling?" asked Angel as they stood in front of me. I gave them a smile and stood up from the bed, stretching myself out again.

"I'm feeling much better now. Why, did something happen?" I asked, my tone now becoming worried.

"No, no. Nothing happened" Angel reassured me with a smile and a glance at Melody, who was oddly quiet. I raised an eyebrow at both of them and crossed my arms over my chest.

"What's going on?" I asked in a no-nonsense voice. They were keeping something from me and I was going to find out what it was. Melody looked up at me, and I noticed a pleading look in her eyes.

"Are you...ticklish...?" she asked. My eyebrows shot up and I looked at her in total confusion. What the hell was going on?

"Um...I guess..." I replied slowly, not knowing where exactly this was going.

"Ha! I told you! Pay up" said Angel with a prominent smirk on her face as she put out her hand toward Melody. My mouth dropped open as Melody reluctantly took a piece of candy out of her pocket and handed it to Angel while mumbling something incoherrent.

"You guys were betting?!" I asked, incredulously.

"Yep. And she lost" replied Angel as she popped the candy into her mouth, which happened to be one of those ultra sour war heads. Melody scowled at me as Angel's face scrunched up just like the lemon on the wrapper.

"You could have lied or something" she said. I shrugged my shoulders and gave her a small smile.

"Sorry. If you wouldv'e told me before hand, I might have considered it" I replied.

Suddenly, Melody's eyes lit up and she instantly whispered into Angel's ear while keeping her eyes on me. Angel giggled with excitement, and I suddenly got a queasy feeling in my stomach as they both separated and turned toward me with devilish smiles on their faces. "What are you guys planning..." I said warily as they walked closer to me.

"Your punishment" said Melody with one evil giggle.

O::O::O::O::O::O

Even though I was so curious to see how Ember was doing, I decided to give her some space and hang out with the Flock as Iggy experimented with his new x-ray skill on everyone. But in less than 15 minutes, everyone got bored and went to do whatever; Nudge and Gazzy went to go play video games, Iggy began making miniscule bombs, Total sat with me as I updated my blog, and Melody and Angel went upstairs to Ember's room. I was going to tell them to let her rest a bit more, but I decided against it when I heard that she was awake. After a few minutes though, I could hear caution in Ember's voice as she said, "What are you guys planning...". I thought I heard Melody mumble something before Ember let out a loud shriek that made me jump and look toward the room just in time to see Ember burst through the door with Melody and Angel right behind her. She jumped over the banister from the second floor and landed gracefully on the balls of her feet before sprinting into the other room where Nudge and Gazzy were.

"What the hell..." said Iggy as he got up and joined them with Total following behind him. It was quiet for a few seconds, and I was thinking of getting up to see what was going on when the chaos started again.

"GET HER!" someone yelled; I couldn't exactly tell who it was since it sounded like everyone yelling at once. But suddenly, Ember burst from that room also, looking wide-eyed and panicky, like a lab rat in an unknown environment. I stared after her in total shock and almost busted out laughing as Ember somehow tripped on her own feet and landed face first on the floor. Ember quickly recovered and only got to her knees before getting pushed back down by the entire Flock. They all had her surrounded, even Total, and I soon heard...laughing?

"Oh, God, no...hahahaha...that...that TICKLES! Hahaha, STOP, HAHA!!" shrieked Ember through a fit of giggles and laughter. Everyone was laughing with her as they continued their onslaught of nimble fingers on her skin. Tears were streaming down Ember's cheeks as she fought a losing battle against everyone. She rolled along the floor to try and escape, but that only made them more persistent. "Stop...please, stop......ow, pain, ow..." Ember struggled to say, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath between gasps and more laughter. Everyone instantly stopped and backed away from her with worried expressions now replacing their amused appearances.

Ember struggled to get up as she caught her breath while the Flock asked if she was okay. Suddenly, her body disappeared from the middle of the small circle of bird-kids and we all looked up to the second floor as we heard the door shut and Ember call out, "Suckers!". The Flock was silent for a few seconds before they all rushed to Ember's room and started banging on her door while saying things all at once. "I'm not letting you in and if you blow up this door, I will wring your necks!" she called out, and it was obvious that the last part of this statement was referring to Iggy and Gazzy, who were slowly slinking away from the door with mischievous smiles on their faces. After hearing this threat, they abruptly stopped and scowled at the door, and I couldn't help but silently chuckle.

"If you want something to do, go tickle Fang!" Ember yelled through the walls that were protecting her. Everyone paused, and their glances shot towards me with a questioning look. I quickly brought my attention back to my laptop, finding nothing funny at all that Ember had made me their new target.

I didn't know if I was ticklish or not; the only touches from anyone that I have ever felt was one of pain from being punched in the gut or one of gentleness from being hugged or something. But never tickled. None the less, I didn't want to find out.

"Hey, Fang. Are you ticklish?" asked Angel as everyone crowded around me. She sat down to the left of me while Melody sat on the right.

"No" I replied in a flat tone, maybe a little too quickly. I could already see the gears turning in Angel's head and before I could give her a warning look, I felt something poke me on my side. A chuckle escaped through my lips involuntarily, and I quickly clamped my mouth shut, but it was too late. The rest of the flock were looking at each other with sudden realization dawning on their faces but before they could do anything, I had already jumped off of the couch and darted up the stairs.

"Hey, Ember. Open up!" I said in a rushed tone of voice.

"No. I'm not letting you in. Serves you right for laughing" she replied. I stood in front of her door and gritted my teeth, noticing the Flock coming up the staircase filled with anticipation.

"Fang..." called Angel in a sing-songey voice as she came to the top of the stairwell. "Stay there" she commanded as I turned to dash into one of the other rooms, and I felt my body freeze in place.

That little cheater.

"Get him!" everyone yelled as they charged at my unmoving body, and I barely felt their fingers graze my shirt before Ember opened her door, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me inside of her room. I landed on her floor like a sack of ripe apples as she swiftly closed the door and put her back against it as the door began to move violently.

"Aw, c'mon Ember! That's not fair! Why are you helping him?" I heard Total ask.

"Because I can. Now go find something else to keep you occupied" she replied. The banging stopped and there were a lot of disappointed groans.

"You're a fun killer" said Nudge, and I saw Ember smirk.

"So sue me. Now go find something else to do" she said again.

"Yes, dictatress" Iggy said, emphasizing his distaste for his fun being ruined and their footsteps slowly dragged away from the doorway. A full blown smile had now made its way to her face and she moved away from the door and sat on the bed beside the window. "You're lucky I'm so nice" she said to me as she sat Indian style and brought her laptop on her legs. I got up to sit next to her on the bed.

"It's the least you can do after I saved you" I replied. I noticed her frown slightly, but she kept her eyes directly on the laptop screen.

"I appreciate your help and all, but I could've gotten out of that by myself" she said. I snorted and she glared at me.

"Uh, huh. Sure you could" I said. Ember threw a pillow at my head in response and laughed at me when she saw my shocked expression.

After a few minutes of bantering back and forth at each other about absolutely nothing, we started talking about our plans and how long we were planning on staying here. But when I asked her what she was going to do about her mom, she grew silent and she had nothing but a blank expression on her face, as if a cloud had come over her and fogged up over her feelings. But just as quickly as it came, it was gone in an instant and she smirked at me and challenged me to a game of pinball on her laptop.

Despite my concerns about her sudden mood swing, I agreed and we spent an hour or two beating each others' scores. We ended our little match when we both caught the scent of the delectable dinner that Iggy was making. We stayed upstairs for almost half-an-hour more before Ember's stomach growled and she grimaced.

"This is ridiculous. I'm not staying up here for another second" she said as she jumped out of bed and headed toward the door.

"You're gonna die of laughter if you exit the room" I warned nonchalantly, my eyes following her every graceful move.

"Well, I'll just have to take my chances. Besides, I'd rather die by laughing instead of starving". At the last part of the statement, she turned to me and flashed me a small smile. My heart skipped a beat, but before I could compose myself, Ember opened the door. "Have fun torturing your stomach" she said just as the smell of lasagna wafted into the room and surrounded my nostrils and took over my brain. She chuckled softly and only closed the door behind her slightly, leaving it open enough so that the smell of dinner would drive me crazy.

I sighed after a few minutes, knowing that I couldn't resist anymore. I walked toward the door and opened it. I walked through the doorway and instanyly noticed that everyone was hanging around in the kitchen, grabbing numerous plates of food that almost made my mouth water. As I walked down the stairs, everyone froze and stared at me.

"It's about time you came out. Hurry up or else your not getting dinner" Ember said as she put an empty plate on the table for me. Everyone's eyes hungrily shifted back toward the food, dismissing me for a few moments after remembering that there was food to attend to.

"Ha-ha, Fang's ticklish. I'll remember that the next time I want to get something out of you" Total said with a smile as I reached the kitchen and grabbed my plate.

"I dare you to try" I replied and a small hint of a smile play at Ember's lips. The rest of dinner went by like the ones that we used to have when we were still with Jeb and Max in our old house; we laughed, we cracked jokes at each other, we ate tons of food, Gazzy let one of his 'deadly weapons' loose, and we had to evacuate the immediate area or risk suffocating, which quickly ended dinner.

After we threw out our disposable plates in a trash can far away from the kitchen, we all went into the game room just for something to do.

"Who wants to play Gears of War with me?" Gazzy asked. His answers were plenty of mumbles from everyone except for Ember and Melody, who were clueless to the fact that Gazzy was the gaming master.

"I'll play" Ember volunteered as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I bet on Gazzy" said Iggy after a chuckle.

"Why?" Melody asked curiously.

"Because she's playing against Gazzy, for one thing. Two, this is Gears of War. And no girl is any good at playing a shooting game" Iggy said confidently. Nudge, Melody, and Angel glared at Iggy and I could imagine daggers coming out of their eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Angel asked as she cracked a knuckle.

"Just how it sounds" said Iggy confidently. Total, Gazzy, and I exchanged glances with each other, and we all wondered how we were supposed to help him when the girls ambushed him and tied him up by his ankles. But Ember, who had been silent through this conversation, had a smirk suddenly emerge on her face.

"Do I hear a bet?" she asked. Iggy deliberated on this for a count of 3 before he smiled.

"Yeah, why not. If I win, you have to admit that girls can't play shooter games and buy all the guys ice cream" he proclaimed.

"And what if you lose?" Ember questioned.

"Um..." began Iggy.

"Oh, oh I know!" Nudge suddenly exclaimed and she rushed to the cabinet that held all of the games and produced a CD. Angel and Melody crowded around her as she blew off the dust from the cover before a fit of giggles consumed them. "You have to sing 'I'm A Barbie Girl'!" Nudge cried out in excitement. Gazzy and Total were bowled over with laughter, Angel and Melody had exploded with a new fit of giggling, and I had managed to only crack a smile.

"You're on" said Iggy with total confidence. Ember looked at Gazzy now.

"You ready to start this?" she asked. Gazzy grinned and he cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, yeah. Hope you're ready to eat my virtual gunpowder" he mocked and I noticed something flash in Ember's eyes, as if she had something up her sleeve. They set up the game and before they began, I finally saw the look that I had been waiting for. Ember looked at Gazzy hopelessly and held up the controller.

"You have to show me how to play" she said. Iggy smirked at this new revelation while Gazzy showed Ember the ropes before playing a practice game. We all gathered around the two seated players and watched as Gazzy curb-stomped Ember's guy in no less than 3 minutes.

Why was she so confident if she knew she couldn't even play? Was she just pretending so that Iggy wouldn't get instant satisfaction?

"So, you ready to play for real?" asked Gazzy with a chuckle, knowing that he would win.

"Yeah, I guess" replied Ember as she glanced at the controller again in uncertainty. But as soon as they started a new game, Ember's facial expression instantly changed into one that someone would have when an evil plan was coming together perfectly.

Within 10 minutes, Ember had chain-sawed Gazzy in the back.

Everyone's jaw dropped, even Iggy's, who was being given a play-by-play from Total. My eyebrows raised as Ember laughed half-heartedly and rubbed her arm in embarrassment.

"That was probably all luck. Do you want to play again?" she asked. Gazzy's shocked face diminished and was replaced with a determined look. He nodded once and restarted the game. It only took 8 minutes this time to beat him again. They continued to play, always ending with the same result, and after the fourth game, Gazzy gave up, although he was more pleased than Iggy to actually have someone beat him. Iggy was fuming, mumbling something about cheating and un-fair advantages. Ember gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and a smile while the girls went in search of a CD player.

"Aw, suck it up. You can't win all the time" Ember said.

"I guess" he replied stubbornly, not wanting to admit defeat.

"If I showed you some cool pressure point moves, will you stop sulking?" she asked, sounding like a mother trying to bribe her child with candy.

Iggy thought about this and finally answered with, "Only if they're good". A faint smile appeared on her face before the girls came back with big smiles on their faces holding a small stereo with a CD compartment. Iggy still had to sing the song, but he didn't do it without help from Melody, to which I noticed Ember raise a curious eyebrow to.

After the horrible performance and several good laughs, Ember called it a night for her and walked right past me to her room without looking back once. I followed her with my eyes until she went into her room and closed the door behind her. The rest of the Flock had gone back to playing Gears of War, but Iggy came up to me with a slight curiosity on his face.

"What do you think about Ember?" he asked, and I shrugged my shoulders, my eyes still glued to her door as if I was expecting her to come out just so that I could see her.

"She's alright" I replied simply.

"Oh really now. Is that all?" he asked with suspicion in his voice and I glanced at him with one of my eyebrows raised.

I wasn't stupid; I knew what he was insinuating, but I wasn't planning on telling him anything.

"Unless you have something to add to that, I'm pretty sure that's it" I said. His grin widened, but before he could say anything else, I walked away, sat on the couch in the living room and took up my laptop. But for some strange reason, I couldn't concentrate at all; I kept shifting my eyes toward her room.

_Jeesh, it's just her door. Why is it bugging me?_ I thought to myself, and in minutes of that thought, I groaned inwardly, grabbed my laptop, and walked up the stairs. I gently knocked on her door with uncertainty. She opened it after a few seconds and a breath that I didn't know that I was holding in had slowly escaped through my nostrils.

"Hey" I said, sounding incredibly stupid.

Why was I up here again?

But Ember only replied with a "Hey" before stepping aside to let me in. "Was downstairs too noisy for you or something?" she asked as I walked into her room and sat down on her bed.

_No, that's not it. I truthfully have no idea why I came up to your room. Maybe it's just because I wanted to see your face._

"Eh" I replied with a shrug as I opened up my laptop again. I noticed that she was staring at me and I raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"You had a laptop all this time?" she asked. I nodded, keeping my eyes glued to the screen as she sat down beside me. "Did you come up here just to bug me?" she accused.

"If it's that easy then I should probably do it more often" I said, a smirk appearing on my face. Ember poked my side and I quickly scooted away from her after a inhaling a surprised breath. She laughed at my expression and I stored away the sound in my mind without a second thought.

"What are you doing?" she asked, now curious at what was hidden from her vision on my laptop screen.

"Wouldn't you like to know" I said, keeping my attention on the screen.

"Yes, I would" she said before she suddenly appeared behind me, looking over my shoulder, her hair barely brushing over the back of my neck, her cheek just centimeters away from my own, the skin that wasn't covered on her arm brushing up against mine. "This is a blog" she stated casually, as if she wasn't aware of how this was affecting me.

She probably wasn't.

But I was still on edge, still aware of every breath that she took. I couldn't turn my head to look at her. I knew I would see her full lips and the way they curved up in a small smile as she read over my shoulder. I knew I couldn't even permit myself to glance at her, knowing that I may be tempted to...

_Tempted to do WHAT, Fang?_ my own thoughts questioned to me, and I could see two of myself in my head; one of them looking down condescendingly at the other Fang, who was looking quite confused. _You barely even know her, so why are you even thinking about stuff like that? Is it because she seems like a replacement for Max? _asked the serious Fang. I then knew which one I was as the confused Fang slowly looked up at the face of who I thought must have been my conscience.

And no matter how much I wanted to knock him out and tell him to shut-up, he was right.

I barely knew anything about Ember at all, and yet these weird feelings were enveloping me. They weren't foreign to me; I had felt something similar when Max was here; but now, it felt stronger, if that was even possible.

And that brought up another question; am I really trying to replace Max?

But before I could elaborately think about this, Ember reached over me and took the laptop out of my grasp. She didn't seem to notice the dilemna that I was having, but it didn't help when she accidentally touched my hand, leaving a slight tingle. But she finally gave me space as she took the laptop and started to read. I took a calming breath, unbeknownst to her, and glanced at her curiously when I heard her chuckle. I could tell that she was completely amused, probably laughing at the comments that my fans had left.

"Well, aren't you popular" she said in a sarcastic tone, and I had to again look away from her as some of her hair fell into her eyes and several ideas flashed through my brain.

How did I really feel about her?

Was she seriously more important to me than Max was, or was I really trying to put her where Max used to be?

But if that was the case, why do I feel...something different, something more?

"Who's Max?" Ember suddenly asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

The question that I didn't want her to ask, but now that it was out in the open, I knew there was no way to avoid it, especially now that Ember was burning a hole in my head with her stare. I sighed, keeping my eyes away from her, focusing to keep my voice steady.

"Max was someone who grew up with us at the School. We considered her our leader, our friend, part of our family..." I ended up letting a small smile come on my face despite myself as I remembered all of the good times that we had. "She was stubborn, motherly, annoying, and a nag. But she was smart, determined, strong, kind, and she really cared for us...at least, that's what we thought" I finished, anger now entering my voice.

"What happened?" asked Ember, her curiousity even more piqued than before.

"She betrayed us...after all that we went through together, it turned out that she was one of them..." I mumbled as anger began to flood through me and that day started to replay in my mind. The day when everything fell apart, just when we felt good about ourselves.

"I'm sorry" I heard Ember say timidly, and I now looked at her, wondering what could cause her tone of voice to change. But she wasn't looking at me anymore; she was drawing patterns on the bed sheet with her finger.

"Why?" I asked. She was silent for a short while; the only sound that came out of her was the sound of her breath. I instantly got that feeling again; the one where I wanted to force her head up to look at me just so that I could see her thoughts. I pushed the feeling down and put my hand in my pocket so it wouldn't do anything rash without my say-so.

"You really liked her, didn't you" she murmured, not meaning this as a question, and finally looked at me with guarded eyes.

My breath caught in my throat; was it really that obvious to a stranger how much I had cared for Max? And what was with those eyes that Ember was looking at me with, as if she was trying to protect something? Her eyes widened for a quick second before she turned her head away, as if she had given something away.

"Ha-ha, I'm becoming too nosy. Forget I asked" she suddenly said with an embarrassed smile, and I blinked once, trying to catch up with her weird mood swings. She then handed me back my laptop, and leaned the back of her head against the wall, closed her eyes, and sighed, saying how tired she was. I nodded in agreement and looked at my laptop, answering questions on my blog and surfing the web.

Within minutes, it had become completely quiet in her room, and I didn't know that Ember had fallen asleep until I felt her head on my shoulder. I smiled to myself, watching the way her lips slightly parted, her face looking serene as her breath came out evenly without a sound. Looking at her reminded me of something that I had read somewhere, and I started to say it out loud, as if I spoke poetry every day.

"...Her gesture, motion, and her smiles. Her wit, her voice my heart beguiles. Beguiles my heart, I know not why. And yet I'll love her till I die..." I murmured to myself, now aware that Ember had now unconsciously moved closer to me, as if I was a very comfortable pillow. I felt my cheeks get a bit warmer than usual as I stared at her; bits of her hair falling into her face, the full moon that had now emerged from behind the clouds shining against her hair. My right hand twitched, and I closed my laptop and sighed, knowing fully well that I wouldn't get anything done.

It was time to face facts, and stop dancing around the issue. I liked Ember...liked her enough to want her to stay with us and get to know her even more. And although I don't know if she even thinks of me in that way at all, I knew that I would protect her from everything that threatened to tear us apart from her, not just because she was part of the flock now, but because I really couldn't imagine her gone.

My mind flashed a name into my head, and I clenched my teeth.

Jake.

I didn't know who this guy was, but I would never let him mess with my flock, especially Ember and her sister.

And that was something that I would stake my life on.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Well, to compensate for my lack of posting, I wrote a very long chapter. Still kinda sucks in my opinion but not as painstaking to write as my last previous chapters (I'm still kicking myself for not posting during spring break XD). Well anyway, I hope you like it. Hopefully, I can get the next chapter up soon (maybe sometime today?). Reviews. Need. Enjoy.


	25. Chapter 24: He Said, She Said

**Chapter 24: He Said, She Said**

O::O::O::O::O::O

Fang's P.O.V.

My eyes shot open to see nothing but a ceiling in a dim lit room. It's the first time in months since I've had that dream.

Or more like a nightmare.

It still made me angry just thinking about it. The day that Max left us. The day she betrayed us and left us high and dry with anger and shock. I dreaded having this dream because it always happened the same way. It would be like me sitting in a movie theatre while watching the characters make mistake after mistake while I yelled at the screen. My voice couldn't reach them; they couldn't hear me. Because it was just a replay of my memories.

It was only months after Max gave her speech to Congress about saving our world and we took off on our own again. Max had mentioned something about us having another mission, but we didn't really care. We were all in total bliss, just glad to be alive and away from any real trouble other than searching for our next meal.

And that's where we made our first mistake.

Iggy's warning came one second too late, and before we could react, FlyBoys already had us in their grasps, holding our arms behind our backs with strength that we never knew they had, and we struggled against their holds as they dug their incredibly sharp nails in our arms, drawing blood. The only one who hovered freely with a sadistic kind of smile on her face, looking truly triumphant, was Max. And through the searing pain in my arms and a now splitting headache from the apparently enhanced FlyBoy hitting me across the head, I was shocked and angry. How the hell did they find us and why wasn't Max in a death grip, too? I couldn't understand what the hell was going on until Max opened her mouth.

"You all are truly pathetic" she said in a voice that wasn't hers, a mechanical, unnatural tone that left an empty feeling in my core, draining me of all that joy that I had felt only minutes ago. This wasn't Max at all; this was another copy.

It had to be.

"What happened to the real Max?!" Angel had demanded between struggles.

"Kid, I am the real Max" she had replied.

"No, you're not! Max would never sell us out!" Nudge had protested.

"Oh, really now. But I distinctly remember saving Angel's sorry butt the first time she got kidnapped from our house with Jeb. And that time on the beach with a bloody Fang looking as pathetic as ever. I remember that. So tell me that I'm not the real deal" Max had replied coolly. We kept silent after she said this because, even though we would later try and deny it, try to defend her, we all knew the truth. This was Max, _our_ Max, and she had left us.

Even though this was all a dream, I could still feel the fear, the anger, and the pain course through my body. But I watched as I hit the back of my head hard against the FlyBoy's face and became free from its grip. The rest of the flock followed suit and we dashed out of there as fast as we could, willing ourselves not to look back even once at the face of what used to be our friend. The dream abruptly ended here, as it usually did, leaving me half-asleep.

The room that we were all in, Ember's room, was quiet; I could tell that everyone was still sound asleep, letting their fantasies take them wherever they wanted to go. I didn't feel like opening my eyes just yet and tried to settle into a dreamless sleep when a short yelp rang through the room. I immediately opened my eyes to find myself propped up on my elbow looking at Ember, who was sleeping in one of the beds. She was staring back at me with surprise on her face and her hands to her mouth. My confusion muddled my already slow brain. It was only when I heard a soft giggle and saw Ember's head swivel towards the door with her eyes squinting in a deathly glare that my thoughts caught up with me and I knew exactly what was going on. Ember growled before vanishing from in front of me, presumably going downstairs.

"I _told_ you _not_ to POKE ME!" I heard Ember yell as something clattered to the floor.

"But it was funny!" protested Melody, and I could just picture Melody running around the room laughing with Ember hot on her heels in total frustration as I had seen them do so many times before. The rest of the flock, who had also woken up from Ember's sudden yell, all groaned and flopped back in their pillows.

"Not again" muttered Nudge, who was sleeping in the bed adjacent to Ember with Angel. She was asleep again in a matter of minutes.

"Don't they ever stop?" Iggy mumbled next to me, covering his head on the pillow. The guys had floor duty since we had lost a pillow fight might a couple of days ago.

"WAHH! FANG, EMBER'S BEING MEAN TO ME!" Melody yelled. She had been caught, probably being held upside-down in Ember's arms.

"Don't call help from Fang, you little monster!" said Ember, who I could tell was obviously smirking just by the tone of her voice.

"Fang, HELP!" Melody called again, now giggling uncontrollably. Total chuckled from beside me.

"You heard her, Fang. Go and help the princess" said Total with sarcasm in his voice. I picked up my pillow and chucked it at him, then grabbed Ember's pillow and buried my head in it, blocking out the yells downstairs and the protests from Total.

A typical start to a typical day.

O::O::O::O::O::O

After the sister ordeal this morning, I ate some breakfast, took a shower, and got dressed. Everyone else was in a wonderful mood, even though I was a bit suspicious. It's been almost a month since we bailed my sister out of the School, and there has been no move from them, even though we probably aren't too far away. I would like to think that we put a dent in their actions with our sudden escape, but I highly doubted it.

But even though we were in hiding, we still left the house quite frequently. We needed a way to keep our food supply stuffed at all times, so every 5 days, two of us would head out toward a grocery store. We try not to shop at the same place twice for a certain number of weeks, just so that they won't recognize us, so we usually increase our flying range past the local town to buy food. I still have a bunch of cash left, and I try as often as possible to not use credit cards, but sometimes it can't be helped.

Fang always kept asking me what I wanted to do about my mom, but I always ignored him because I didn't want to answer for personal reasons. Along with teaching Iggy some cool techniques and helping Melody to fight better, I kept myself busy. And even though I still felt a little bit uneasy because it had been so quiet for so long, it was really nice to just relax, even for a short time.

I was just getting cozy in my room with my sketchbook when Angel and Melody both popped in and came to the side of my bed with gleaming smiles.

"Fang wants you!" Melody said in an angelic voice, and I glared at her. They have been pulling this trick for a week now, and it was getting old.

"I'm not falling for that again" I said, going back to my drawing.

"But this time it's really true. He really does want you" said Angel.

"I bet in more ways than one" Melody said with a small giggle. I kept my eyes glued to the paper, resisting the urge to chase her again.

_What the hell was that supposed to mean, anyway? _I wondered after an exasperated sigh. _"_

_You still don't get it, do you?" _asked Angel through thought.

Oops. I had allowed her to read my mind.

"Angel, how many times did I tell you how rude that is" I said, putting my book down since I knew I wasn't going to get anything done.

"Sorry. It's just that when you open up your mind, it's really hard for me to resist" she said apologetically. I sighed again and pinched the bridge of my nose just before hearing another knock on the door. I looked up to see Fang standing in the doorway with his black clothes that he once again looked too good on him.

"Hey" I said with slight apprehension.

"I told you he wanted you" said Melody and I threw a pillow at her, which she dodged before running out giggling. Angel followed behind her, giving me a knowing smile before scampering off. I put my book down and looked at him. "What's up?" I asked.

"We need to run to the store. Nudge wants more ramen" Fang said with a shrug, but something was up. If Fang want, he usually left with Iggy or Angel. So why did he want to go with me so randomly?

"Can't you go with someone else?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I could. But you seem like you want to get out of the house".

Of course, Fang was right.

It had been at least a week since I was able to fly for even an hour or so, much less go outside for something other than walks in the forest, which was SUPPOSED to be relaxing, but seeing as how I always took Melody with me...yeah, not so much.

My wings were actually aching at the thought of having them stretch out, but I wasn't going to let him know any of that. I got up from the bed, went to the closet, and opened it to store away my sketchbook so that Nudge couldn't get to it, as she was prone to do lately.

"You can still go with Iggy or something" I said nonchalantly, trying to put it back on the top shelf, but it was a little bit out of my reach.

_How the hell did I get it down if I can barely reach it? Oh yeah, Iggy got it for me... _I thought as I reached unsuccessfully for the shelf.

Suddenly, Fang was behind me, my head against his upper chest since he was taller than me. His hand was on mine against the closet door, keeping it restrained while I clutched the book. My eyes widened slightly and my heart instantly went into overdrive, thumping against my chest, threatening to jump out at any second. Fang's breath tickled my neck, making my hairs stand on end.

"I want you to go with me" he whispered in my ear, and I swear my heart skipped a beat.

Or two.

Maybe three.

I took a staggering breath, trying to give my brain oxygen to think straight. But it was silent, making me fly solo. I swallowed before opening my mouth to say something witty, something that would make me feel more like myself.

"Yeah. Sure. Ok".

Smooth move, Miss Dictionary.

Fang chuckled, sending chills through my body and kick starting my heart into a fast gallop yet again. His hand moved from mine to the book, easily taking it out of my grip, and reached the top of the shelf with ease to put it back.

"Good" he said simply as he walked out of the door with a small smile playing on his lips. I took several gulps of air as if I had been drowning. I began to feel more like myself, and with that, embarrassment and a huge blush entered my face.

_Damn manipulative pretty boy, _I thought as I took a slightly shaking hand and grabbed a light jacket from the closet.


	26. Chapter 25: Shopping Is Never Fun

**Chapter 25: Shopping Is Never Fun**

The wind felt even more amazing than I remembered it to be and I cherished the feeling as I did a little roll through the chill air with a small smile on my face. Fang and I had been flying for maybe an hour and a half, making sure to pick a store that we either hadn't gone to yet or hadn't been to in awhile. I could tell that Fang was constantly watching me, but I ignored him, knowing that if I let it get to me, I would remember what had happened back at the house.

We finally found a small convenience store below and descended into the nearby clutter of trees that surrounded it, acting as if we were just regular kids who just so happened to be walking through the woods just to get some groceries.

Definitely not suspicious at all.

We landed silently, making sure that we weren't seen by any stray eyes before trudging through bushes and roots. It was a quiet walk; a bit uncomfortable, actually, until he broke the silence.

"So, about your mom..." he began with his hands in his black warm looking jacket. I rolled my eyes. Of course there was a catch to this whole thing; that was the only reason why he wanted me to come. He knew that I wouldn't have a room to lock myself into if he brought up that subject.

"Is this why you insisted on bringing me out here?" I asked in a scalding tone without looking at him. He didn't respond, so I assumed that his answer was a yes. Silence loomed over us again for awhile as we came closer toward the store. The small amount of sunlight that had graced us with its presence earlier during the day was long gone and was now being replaced by some stars. "I'll tell you what," I began, ripping the silence in half. "After a race, I'll tell you what I want to do about my mom." I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye to take in his expression only to see him staring at me with those almost midnight eyes of his. I quickly looked away, trying to fight my wave of embarrassment.

"You're on" he said almost silently, and I wouldn't have noticed that he had already taken off if I hadn't looked at where he previously stood next to me.

"You little cheater" I mumbled as I snapped out my own wings and surged ahead.

It felt good to dodge between trees again, feel the rush of the wind as it whistled through my ears and whipped my hair around, and as I passed Fang, I let out a laugh that left my lips and trailed behind me. As I saw the exit out of the trees become closer, I had to come to a stop, making sure that I stayed in the shadows so that the cheap fluorescent lights that shone through the windows wouldn't fall on me. I folded my wings under my jacket as Fang landed next to me only seconds later in that silent way of his.

"I won" I said triumphantly.

"Uh-huh. So you gonna tell me?" he asked nonchalantly.

I raised an eyebrow at him. He was bringing down my high.

"Ah, no," I said, maintaining the smile on my face as I stepped into the light.

"You promised" he replied, and I thought I heard a tinge of frustration color his tone.

"I promised nothing" I replied cheerily as I opened the door and allowed him to walk in first. The store was small, maybe like a mini Walgreens without the make-up aisle. There was one guy working the cash register, and he seemed extremely bored with his surroundings until we both stepped through the door. He was reading some comic book and it was at that moment that he showed interest on his face.

"May I help you with anything?" he asked, and something about him made me dislike him immediately. I shook my head before heading down the aisle with Fang, quickly picking up what we needed so that the guy would have less of a chance to remember our faces.

Three basket carriers later, we both walked up to the register with each basket filled to the brim. Fang put his basket on the counter before walking off somewhere to look at something. The cashier's eyes widened for a few seconds before he recollected himself and started scanning the items.

"You have a big crowd waiting for you or something?" asked the cashier, who wore the nametag that read 'Nick'.

"Sort of," I replied quickly while looking away from Nick. The more the guy talked, the faster I wanted to get out of there. I mean, the guy was young and all, probably in his early 20s, and he even had some decent looks, but something about him just set off a loud, obnoxious warning noise in my head, and I had learned to listen to those over the years.

"Ah, you're having a party while you're folks are out, aren't you? Hah, those are always fun. Any guys gonna be there?" Nick asked. I turned my head again, easily catching Fang's dark hair in my view. He was really tense; I could tell by the way he gripped the can of beans in his hand. I don't blame him; I could feel Nick's eyes grazing over my body during our one-sided conversation. Did he have to take so long to ring up the stupid stuff?

"Just one or two guys" I replied. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the cashier's gaze also flick to Fang before coming back to me.

"Ah. Anyone you're interested in?" Nick asked, finally putting all of the groceries in the bag. I shook my head, keeping my eyes first on the screen that told how much I owed before reaching for my wallet and pulling out the bills to pay. Nick tore off the receipt from the machine after I handed him the money, and I almost flinched when he touched my hand.

_Do it now, kick his ass! No, wait. He's just a retard. He doesn't know what he's doing. Just take the bags and walk away, _I debated against myself.

My rational side was actually winning and I was going to do the right thing when Nick handed me the receipt with his number scribbled on the back of it in fat, scribbled, clumsy handwriting.

"Well, if you want to have some fun, just call me and I'll join the party" Nick said with a sly smile.

O::O::O::O::O::O

"Thanks" I said acidly as I grabbed the bags of groceries from the counter. The guy blinked at me once in surprise as Ember stared at the receipt with her eyes wide like a frozen doll. This guy pissed me off to no end; it was a wonder how I could retain myself enough not to throw him through the glass window. "Let's go" I mumbled, grabbing her wrist, but she yanked it out of my grasp. I turned around with disbelief to see her still looking at the receipt, but her expression had changed into something that I couldn't quite read.

"Hold on. Maybe I can take you up on your offer right now..." Ember said as she now looked up at the cashier.

"A...are you sure?" stuttered the cashier as he looked from me back to her.

"Sure. Unless you wanna back out" Ember said like a true-born flirt.

Did she just bat her eyelashes at him?!

"Course not!" he said, a cocky grin coming over his face as he came from behind the counter. "As long as your...'friend' has no problem with it" he said.

_Damn right I have a problem with it! _I fumed, my fist curled around the handles of the bags. I was ready to destroy the guy when Ember cut me off.

"Don't worry. He won't mind. It will only take about 5 minutes" she said nonchalantly.

"5 minutes! Do you think that I'm so easy to please?!" the guy asked in bemusement, shifting his gaze to me once again.

_Go ahead, Fang. Hit him, right in the face, break his jaw, pull out some teeth..._ my devil side chanted to me. I was expecting my good side, the one with morals, to show up in my conscious and tell me not to, but it never did, and I was glad.

"No, I don't, but I'm just that good" Ember replied.

Maybe I should hit her, too.

"Well then. Step into my office" the guy said slyly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and began walking to the men's bathroom, leaving me standing near the entrance looking like a pissed off idiot with groceries in his hand. Ember quickly looked over her shoulder and I could finally see what she was remotely thinking about. An evil plot was clearly lurking in her eyes.

She mouthed "Wait for me" before disappearing through the door. The guy looked at me one last time with a small look of apprehension but clearly showed his thoughts of "gettin' some" on a dull evening. He then closed the door behind him and the store grew eerily silent.

After putting the bags down on the floor by my feet, I punched the wooden counter, which didn't do anything except leave a large dent on the surface and cause my right hand to start tingling. But, regardless of how angry I felt, I waited anyway with both fists stuffed in my pockets and a deathly glare in my eyes. It was a good thing that no one showed up or I might have taken my rage out on them.

Not more than 5 minutes later, I heard a shriek of pain come to my eardrums that made me jump in shock. It definitely wasn't the kind of sound that Ember would make, and my assumptions were made true when Ember stormed out with her fists by her side and a small angry grin on her face.

"Where's that guy?" I asked, sounding confused.

"Oh, you mean that low-life son-of-a-bastard? I left him in the bathroom. He really shouldn't have given me his number" she said with disgust clearly written on both her face and in her tone.

"What happened?" I asked. At this, her smile grew a bit more as she picked up a bag from the floor.

"Go check for yourself. Oh, you might want to take this with you" she said as she reached behind the counter and grabbed some large sharp scissors and handed it to me. I looked at it for a few seconds before my curiosity got the best of me and I went to the bathroom.

I slowly opened the door and instantly froze when I saw the cashier hanging on a bathroom stall door by his underwear in what must've been the best wedgies that has ever happened to a guy in man-kind. He was crying in pain, trying to keep the door from moving to avoid chapping his rear anymore than it already was. I almost doubled over in laughter right there and then, but suppressed most of the laughter behind a large smile.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" said the cashier, noticing that I had walked through the door with sharp scissors in my hand and jumping to the wrong conclusion.

_Just leave him there. He deserves it. Just turn around and walk out with the scissors and leave him hanging, _whispered my darker side. And even though the thought brought some inner satisfaction, I knew my good side would kick my butt later on.

I stepped toward him, not saying a word, and the guy began to cringe, only to realize that any type of movement would cause him discomfort. I brought the scissors to the guy's briefs that were on the door and cut through the material. The guy abruptly fell flat on his stomach, leaving him breathless. He struggled to get up and dusted himself off after a minute or two, looking utterly flushed.

"Thanks, man" he breathed gratefully and gave me a smile.

"No problem" I said simply, passing the guy his scissors.

_Just be glad that I'm the nicer one, _I thought to myself as I turned back around to exit the bathroom.

"That bitch is crazy!" said the guy and I instantly froze.

_Fang! Keep walking, don't pay any attention to him, and just leave him alone! _coaxed my rational side, my good side.

_Stuff it! Fang, don't listen to him. Make the guy suffer, Let your anger go... _persuaded my darker side, the one that seemed so right at this moment. I sucked in a breath through my nose with my fists clenched tightly near my sides before I turned back around and spread out my wings as far as they could go in this cramped space.

"What did you just say?" I asked in the most menacing voice that I could possibly muster. The cashier stared at my wings for an inarticulate 10 seconds. His mouth opened into a doughnut shaped hole as his eyes widened as big as saucepans and he raised a wobbling finger towards me. The cashier made a stuttering sound before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell back to the floor, passing out in a state of shock. I drew in my wings and gave him one long look before propping him up against a wall.

_Serves him right, _I thought to myself as I now headed out the door. _Wasn't worth my anger, anyway. _

I walked out of the door to find a slightly concerned Ember leaning against the counter with the bags of groceries around her feet. She looked up at my entrance.

"What happened in there?" she asked, and I could see the tension leave her face. I shrugged as if there was nothing unusual about showing off your wings in a bathroom.

"He fainted" I said. Ember's eyebrows raised and she opened her mouth to say something, but she shook her head instead.

"He had it coming. Can we go home now? I'm starving" she said lightly as she picked up a bag. I nodded, picking up the remaining bags before walking out the door with her. We both shot off into the air, heading toward home with food now on the brain.

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	27. Chapter 26: Where's Sebastian When You

**Chapter 26: Where's Sebastian When You Need Him?**

We had been flying back home from the convenience store for most of the time, but as we got closer, not only were we tired from carrying heavy bags, but we didn't want to risk being seen by anyone, so we decided to walk the few miles to the house. It was a silent walk in exception to the crickets that seemed to be following us with their annoying chirping and fireflies buzzing around and blinking their lights like watch towers, on and off, on and off, on and...

"Your mom" said Fang suddenly and I gritted my teeth.

"What is with you and your obsession with my mom?!" I asked, anger clearly entering my voice.

"I know why you don't want to look for her" Fang continued calmly, seeming to ignore my outburst. I quickly quieted down and looked at him in shock.

He knew?

He couldn't.

He can't read minds.

But when he met my stare, I had to look away again. I had the sudden feeling that he could see right through me when he looked in my eyes, see my every emotion, read me like an open book.

Was that a stupid accusation?

Maybe.

Was it cheesy?

Without a doubt.

Was it true?

Most definitely.

"You're scared. Afraid of what might happen if you did meet her. You're worried that she might not be the person that she is in your mind" he mumbled. My hand involuntarily clutched the grocery bag handles tighter and I kept my eyes down.

Was it so easy to see? Maybe Angel had read it in my mind at some time or another and conveyed it to him. Either way, I wasn't going to admit to him that he was right. But apparently, my silence said it all.

"You're not the only one, you know" Fang said.

"What about you and everyone else? What about your parents? Did you try and find them?" I asked, keeping my eyes away from him.

"Yeah, we looked. We found Iggy's parents, but things didn't turn out the way we thought it would" Fang said.

The forest that we were in began to open up, giving us more walking space instead of having to step over tree roots. I looked up at the sky to see a clear night with stars shining brightly and the moon big and round; very unusual for England.

"I just don't want for everyone to have to leave for nothing. Especially Melody" I said.

"Melody can take care of herself. Besides, she's willing to go, no matter what the outcome is" replied Fang. I picked up my pace slightly so that I could turn to face him while walking backwards.

"And what makes you say that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He just shrugged casually.

"Because she tells me. Why, is the big sister out of the loop?" Fang asked, a smile playing on his lips. I scowled at him.

"I know a lot of things about her; definitely more than you" I said defensively.

"Okay then. Name one" Fang challenged.

"Okay, fine. What she wants to be when she grows up is-"

"A vet" said Fang as he cut me off. "Continue."

"Her favorite food" I said.

"Steak,"

"Favorite flower,"

"Daffodil,"

"Favorite color,"

"Sky blue,"

I glowered at his smile, trying to think of something that she wouldn't tell anyone but me. And then I thought of one suddenly; the most personal thing that she had confided in me and made me swear that I wouldn't utter a single word to anyone.

"Ok, since you know her so well, what is her best memory?" I asked confidently. But it was then that I felt my heel catch on something and began to fall backward until I hit the ground with a loud thud. The grocery bag that I was carrying left my hand right as I hit the ground and rolled away, some of the items peeking out of the safety of the plastic bag. My breath had left me and I tried to prop myself up so that it would be easier for me to catch my breath. The thing that I had tripped over was the root of a tree, just sticking out of the ground randomly, as if the earth was ejecting it from its brown soil.

"Ember..." I heard Fang say as he brought his foot over the root to avoid the mistake that I made. But it had moved; the root had raised itself higher, tripping Fang regardless and causing him to fall right on top of me. Both bags he was carrying flew out of his hands, and he put his hands in front of him in an attempt to brace himself.

It was all too fast for me to move out of the way in time, so I put my hand out in front of myself to try and stop him. My palm made contact with his chest in a matter of seconds and I found myself inches away from Fang's face and his lips. His breath smelt oddly of spearmint and it hit my face like a bulldozer in response to his abrupt stop. We stayed in that position for what seemed like an eternity to me, my heart drumming in my ears while staring wide-eyed at him.

"It's you" Fang murmured, and I blinked twice, trying to understand what he just said.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly.

"If I were her, my best memory would be you" Fang said, his eyes never leaving mine, and it dawned on my slow brain that he was moving closer to me, like those anticipated kissing scenes that I only thought existed in movies. His eyes were entrapping me, disabling my body from moving or my brain from thinking, and I was losing myself fast in his midnight eyes...and then it began to pour. We were instantly soaked, sitting in an awkward position in dirt that was rapidly turning into puddles and under no shelter.

But I didn't care.

It didn't matter to me that the rain was seeping into my clothes or that my hair felt heavier on my head. It didn't matter even matter that thunder was rumbling overhead. We were still staring at each other, communicating not with words but with our eyes.

Fang had never looked as good as he did now with his hair drenched so that it stuck to his face and his bangs almost fell into his eyes with rain streaming down all the way to his chin, his eyes looking like charcoal in the night. His stare brought a fluttering feeling in my stomach and I instantly knew its interpretation.

I wanted him.

I wanted him now.

He may not like it, but I would worry about that later.

"Maybe we should get home" Fang said. I blinked again, and my mind revved up with a million thoughts.

_Yes, that's right. Get home. You have food to bring, you have people who are waiting up for you, and you have duties; always have, always will. Get your head out of the clouds. _

Yeah, I could think that all I wanted, but it didn't soften the blow of being rejected.

I nodded and Fang got up from the ground. He held out his hand to me and I took it without saying a word, not even looking at his face. The minute that I was standing, I took my hand out of his and went to get the grocery bag. Luckily, nothing had been damaged, so I was able to pick it up and start walking toward home with Fang right beside me, letting the rain drown out all sounds and run down my face in an attempt to silence my mind of thoughts.

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* * *

**Author's Note:** Yes, yes. Very cheesy. Might change a few things in this chapter, but oh well lol. But you know, I will never know what needs changing unless I get reviews *coughcoughHACKcough* lol. (In case you didn't get that, it meant that I need reviews from you people XD).


	28. Extra Chapter: Fang

**Author's Note:**

Ok, so I was thinking after I wrote my last chapter,

"Hey! Wouldn't it be cool to see what Fang thinks when all of this is going on? Yeah, that would be so amazing!"

So, I made this extra chapter.

You may not want to read it.

You may be one of those people who like to think that Fang was just joking and that Ember should die XD.

But if you're a **true **reader, then you wouldn't skip over this chapter.

Because who doesn't like seeing a story from another character's eyes?

Well, hope you enjoy. **AND REMEMBER: REVIEWS!!!!!!**

* * *

**Extra Chapter: Fang**

It took all of my will not to let my lips make any type of contact with hers. To push her to the ground and kiss her like there was no freakin' tomorrow.

I wanted to look away; try to stop what was inevitably going to happen, but I couldn't. Her eyes had captured mine and kept me there; made me inch closer and closer toward her. It was hard enough to keep my hands on the ground; to not let them caress her face and then roam into her hair, running my fingers through the strands. But then the sky opened up and it began pouring.

I didn't know where it came from, but it was out to destroy me.

It made Ember look so much better; the way her almost shoulder length dark wood colored hair dripped with water, running over her face, the way her lips parted open in slight surprise, and the way her wide bambi like dark brown eyes continued to stare, smoldering me, making me lose myself.

I could feel my heart racing in my chest, as if it was about to burst out and start running a marathon.

Seeing her like this, right here and now, was complete torture.

I had to have her.

Just a few more inches and my lips would capture hers.

_Fang, no!_ yelled a voice in my head that almost sounded like Max. I hesitated, only for a moment, but that was enough to get my body to start working again.

"Maybe we should get home" I heard myself say.

_Wait, what? No! What are you doing! You are so close, just do it! _yelled my inner thoughts, but no matter what it said, I knew the situation was out of my control now.

It was too late.

Ember's eyes said it all.

She blinked once, as if to wake herself up from a daze, and seconds later, her brightly lit eyes that were filled with shock and anticipation dulled into something of disappointment before becoming unreadable. She nodded once, and all I could do was offer her my hand after I stood up from the ground, trying to catch her eye again and pinpoint her emotions. But she evaded my stare as she got up and immediately dropped her hand from my grasp before walking over to get the groceries that now lay on the ground. I went and picked up the remaining groceries and we began our walk toward the house again in total silence.

I, on the other hand, was screaming at myself.

_You IDIOT! Look what you did! You hurt her, and now she probably feels rejected! You can't do anything right, can you? First, you let Max become one of them and trick you, AND THEN you mess this up! You're really stupid. _

You can say that again.

_Stupid. _

One more time.

_Stupid. _

Yes, I am stupid.

Yes, I am an idiot.

And yes, I screwed up my first and probably last chance of ever getting that close to Ember again.

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	29. Chapter 27: It's Time

**Chapter 27: It's Time**

We finally entered the house, completely drenched I might add, to a snickering Flock with a peeved looking Angel and Melody as they all sat by the fire. All of their heads turned at our arrival, and they all broke out in a new fit of giggling and holding back laughter, all except the two youngest girls.

"What's going on? Did we miss something?" I asked as I took off my coat and slung it on the nearby coat rack, where it began dripping water on the floor.

"No, no. Nothing at all" answered Total, smiling widely.

"I told you the rain was going to ruin the moment" said Nudge, who was lying on the floor.

"...What's this all about?" I asked. I didn't like being kept out of a secret, especially if it was a funny one. Finally, Melody let out an exasperated huff and crossed her arms across her chest tightly.

"I gave you two the perfect moment and you ruin it! Ugh, you guys are hopeless..." said Melody with displeasure written all over her face.

"Wait a second...you mean that was you?!" I asked. Melody immediately clamed up, but Nudge was enjoying this too much to let it end in silence.

"Oh yeah, she did everything! Did you know that she could control the air and earth so well? I thought it was amazing! And she saw everything through that eye looking power that you two have. Although I did tell her that the rain would be too much but she didn't listen but you two look so funny and-"

"Ok, we get it, now breath!" I said in an exasperated tone.

Where did that girl get the lungs to talk so much?

I couldn't bring myself to turn around and look at Fang's face, but my eyes found its way to Melody, who was by now hiding behind Iggy sporting a "please don't kill me" look. I stared at her for a few more seconds before letting out a sigh.

I couldn't be mad at her. It wasn't her fault. She was only trying to make me happy.

Her explanation was right there in her eyes.

To her, I was the big sister who had too much trouble on her hands. I didn't have enough time to go look for happiness. So she wanted to look for me. And even though being rejected was not what she had in mind, she would continue trying, just because she was that persistent.

Yay me for having a determined sister.

"Anyway, putting all of that aside, who wants dinner?" I asked as I lifted up a wet bag filled with food. Several eyes suddenly turned their ravenous attention to the 3 bags that we had brought home. In all of the commotion, they had almost forgotten how hungry they were.

Almost.

"Well, it's about time! What am I cooking tonight?" asked Iggy.

"No worries. I'll be cooking dinner tonight. How does spaghetti sound?" I asked. Everyone's hungry stares quickly turned into looks of apprehension and worry. "Oh relax. You're not gonna get food poison or anything. Spaghetti is my specialty" I stated defensively.

"Uh-huh. If I get diarrhea, I'm blaming you" said Iggy as he made his way to the kitchen.

O::O::O::O::O::O

"Total, stop poking the meatball. It's not mutated" I said after watching him sniff it for at least 10 minutes now.

"Says the person who burnt cheese this morning" he murmured.

"That was an accident! I wasn't paying attention" I retorted. "Now hurry up and eat before it gets cold."

But that wasn't the real reason that he needed to eat. Everyone had been playing with their food, poking and prodding it with their forks to see if it would become a red monster. Now, since Total was taking the initiative to get close to it, everyone was staring at him, using him as a guinea pig food tester.

Total took a big gulp before he slowly opened his mouth and bit off the smallest piece of meatball that he could obtain.

"Oh no, I'm dying! I see the light, it's coming closer! All the things that I didn't get to see...hey, this isn't half bad..." he said after his melodramatic speech. He chewed it thoughtfully before swallowing the meager portion and his face soon had a large grin on it as he approved my cooking. "Wow, this is awesome!" Total said in amazement.

I sighed. "You couldn't just take my word for it, could you...?"

But after seeing that Total did not instantly gain a stomach virus from my cooking, the rest of the Flock jumped on the band wagon and began stuffing their faces. Fang tried to catch my eye, but I focused on everything but him, making sure to stare at the noodles on my plate to the bits of tomato sauce on the corners of Nudge's mouth.

Seeing Fang's eyes was one of the things I absolutely could not do at this moment, for I was too scared of what I would see in them.

"Ember this is soooooo good!" said Nudge as she stuffed another meatball in her mouth.

"I gotta hand it to you. I didn't know you could cook like this" Iggy said with a smirk. Gazzy was too busy filling his mouth to say anything.

"This reminds me of...mom's cooking..." said Melody quietly, but everyone had heard it. Dinner suddenly became a long pause of silence, and it felt like hours before someone said something.

"Do you remember your mom?" asked Angel. I glanced at Melody, who was sitting right beside me, to take in her expression. She was staring at her food with her forehead scrunched up in concentration. At one point, it smoothed out, only to return to its previous state.

"Not...really. I remember bits and pieces...like her hands and her smile...but I can't remember her face..." Melody replied. I noticed something in her eyes and my heart took a sharp nose dive.

She was about to cry.

Iggy's expression turned sour as he began to pick at his food. "So far, parents aren't really considered a good change for us..." Iggy said.

"Except for Max's mom. She was nice..." jumped in Nudge, who had acquired a sad reminiscent tone in her voice.

"Yeah...she moved somewhere when she heard that Max had gone bad...I wonder where she is now...I miss her cookies" mumbled Gazzy.

"Well, it would be nice to see my mom's face at least once..." said Melody, who had begun rubbing her eye to try and prevent any tears from falling.

_Well, what do you know. Fang was right,_ I thought to myself.

"Don't worry about it. We'll see her soon" I said as I put a hand on Melody's head.

"We will?" she asked, turning her gaze toward me.

"Of course. If no one minds, we can leave tomorrow night and start looking for her."

"Seriously! Thank God, I'm so glad we're leaving. I mean, this place is awesome and all and it has good games and music and it's comfortable, but it's just getting old. I need to get out more" exclaimed Nudge. Melody sat quietly with a small smile on her face, seeming to ponder the thought of seeing mom in person.

"I bet your mom will be just as pretty as both of you combined" said Total and I glanced at him.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, now what do you want?" I asked him, not at all fooled by his sweet talk.

"Can I have more spaghetti?" Total asked with a toothy grin on his face.

"I want seconds, too!" called out Iggy and Gazzy at the same time. As soon as I nodded my approval, they all raced toward the pot with more food on it, having spoon fights in the process.

_Hopefully, we won't have another gloomy moment like that again, _I thought to myself.

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	30. Chapter 28: Jake

**Chapter 28: Jake**

"Your drink, sir" said Mr. Peeves, the kind butler that had worked for me for quite a while now.

"Thank you" I answered absentmindedly while staring at the huge portrait of a beautiful young girl dressed in an elegant satin emerald dress that reached all the way to her bare feet as she stood in a garden filled with flowers of all types.

"She really is a beauty, isn't she?" asked Mr. Peeves as he handed me my drink.

"Yes...not even the garden which was kept in perfect shape could compare to her..." I replied, only glancing at the black tea in the cup briefly before bringing it to my lips and allowing it to flow down my throat.

"Didn't she used to live here, sir?" asked Mr. Peeves.

"Yes, she did. In fact, this was the room where she had her first dance. And I had the privilege to be her dancing partner for the night" I answered, the memories beginning to flood my mind.

"It's a shame that she left with her parents. It would have been nice to have a smiling face like hers around" continued Mr. Peeves as he picked up the remaining shards of a glass cup from the small table right next to my chair.

"It really is a shame..." I mumbled, the images of my younger self floating into my head. The feel of her hair, her skin underneath my fingertips, her eyes that held so much innocence and trust as she looked into mine...I quickly pushed the thoughts back and cleared my throat. Those days where I didn't have to worry about hurting her with every touch were over, and if I wanted even an ounce of that privilege back, I had to gain control over myself. "Could you excuse yourself, Peeves? I need absolute silence" I said with the cup still in my hand as I sat in the chair.

"Certainly" Mr. Peeves said. He bowed like any butler should before walking toward the door. As soon as I heard the door close from behind me, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, allowing my mind to go blank. With the cup still in my hand and my eyes closed, I allowed only one memory of her to emerge from its hiding place and linger, and then another, and some more, until my whole head was filled with every sound and every scent of her. This was what I had to go through before I even allowed myself to touch her again. I would not risk hurting her just because I wasn't able to control myself. And if I had to torture myself with past images of her, if I had to prepare myself before I could touch her again, then so be it. She _will _be mine, and belong to no one but me.

The door behind me swung open and I heard someone panting step into the room. The sudden appearance of an unknown guest startled me, but I kept control and didn't break the glass in my hand, which gave me a sign of improvement.

"What do you want?" I asked without turning to see who my guest was.

"It's me" said one of the Eraser spies that I had sent out a few days ago. "We have just found out that the Flock is preparing to leave tonight."

I sighed, but was still glad that I was able to keep control over my strength. "Is that all? We'll just track them like we have been doing" I replied.

"But there's something else that you might want to hear. Last night, the one called Fang went shopping...but instead of going with one of the usuals...he went with Ember" reported the Eraser.

My pinky twitched slightly and a crack formed on the cup.

"On their way back, they were talking and laughing..."

Another crack.

"And then they fell on top of each other...and almost kissed."

The glass shattered in my hand. I looked at it with disinterest, not surprised to not find any blood like a regular human, even though some of the bigger shards dug into my skin and revealed what was really underneath.

These Erasers are smart...really smart. They know what it takes to get me to make a move against the Flock, and they know how to use it to their advantage. They were out for blood, but I was only after one thing...

I stood up and placed my hand on the top of the chair, which instantly broke and fell to the floor. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" I asked, finally turning all of my attention to the Eraser. He grinned and barred his yellow fangs, glad to see that I showed some feeling.

"It began to rain at that point, and it takes longer for us to fly in bad weather" he replied.

I glanced at the portrait of her on the wall before looking back at the Eraser. "Get everyone ready. We're going to make a surprise visit" I said. The Erasers grin became menacing as he turned and began to walk out the door. Seconds later, Mr. Peeves came into the room once again.

"Would you like me to get the doctor to take out the shards in your hand, Master Jake?" he asked.

I looked at it again before turning back to the picture. "Yes. And get the mechanic in here. Have him fine tune these arms. They're a little too sensitive" I replied.

"Yes sir" said Mr. Jeeves as he hurried out of the room again.

I stared at the picture of a younger, smiling Ember, looking as carefree as she possibly could. "You _will_ be mine..." I mumbled to myself.

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**Author's Note: Hey there, everyone! Haven't seen you in awhile lol. Well, here it is. The newest chapter. Hope it doesn't suck lol. Sorry if it takes a long time (even though it is summer vacation .), but I'll try my best!**

Now, back to the story...*clears throat*...WHAT DID JAKE MEAN BY "FINE TUNE THESE ARMS"! Ooh, a mystery that won't be solved right away...makes you wanna read more doesn't it...OF COURSE IT DOES!

So keep reading...and send some reviews!


	31. Chapter 29: Iggy

**Chapter 29: Iggy**

Iggy's P.O.V.:

Today was finally here. The day where we would all leave our makeshift hideout and head out again to roam freely. Sure, we all enjoyed the time that we were able to get just to relax and have fun for a while, but none of us liked being cooped up in a house for very long. Personally, I think that I was the most anxious to leave and be out in the sky again. Being the only blind one in the group, I would be the only person who could tell how annoying it is to memorize the exact number of steps to the bathroom. At least in the air, I would only have to worry about directions.

I was in the kitchen, lost in my own thoughts while eating what was most likely the last bag of cherries that I would ever get without stealing from a grocery store when I heard the two sisters going at it again.

"Can I go? Can I, can I??" begged Melody to Ember as they noisily came down the stairs. She had been this excited since last night when Ember had made that announcement. From what it sounded like, she was bouncing off the walls like a kid on a sugar high from having too many pixie sticks.

"I said no! The plan was that we would leave later tonight so that we won't be seen. I'm not going to let you go out in broad daylight just for the sake of browsing a store" replied Ember, who sounded irritated beyond belief.

"It's just going to be a quick look at what they have! Nothing's going to happen, I swear. In fact, I could go by myself if I wanted to" said Melody confidently.

"Absolutely not! You are not going alone!" replied Ember sternly.

"So that means that I can go?" asked Melody with hope in her voice.

"I never said that" answered Ember, instantly crushing it.

Ah, the joys of having a sibling.

I chuckled while knoting a cherry stem in my mouth.

"Oh, come on! It's just to the store. And if it makes you feel any better, I'll take Fang along with me" continued Melody as I heard her footsteps take her to where I presumed the couch was in the living room.

"Don't drag me into this" he replied. This was the first time that he had said anything since he and Ember came home last night. I noted the way his voice sounded detached, as if he was mulling over something, and I made a mental note to ask him about that later.

"I wanna go, but there's some clothes upstairs that I reaaalllyyy want to take with me..." said Nudge. I glanced in the direction where her voice was coming from and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "What? A girl's gotta at least have _some_ options" she replied.

"I also want to go, but can't. Got some last minute bombs to pack" Gazzy said, and at this, I smiled. For the small amount of time that we were here, the Gasman and I had worked pretty hard on bigger and better bombs.

And, if I must say so myself, they are pretty damn awesome.

"Fine. Then I'll go with Iggy" Melody announced as her footsteps came closer to me and she unexpectedly held on to my arm. I almost choked on the pit that was in my mouth.

_Why must she hold me like this? Her sister is gonna think that I seduced her or something. Does she really want to transfer Ember's rage to someone else besides herself?...But then again, this may be a good thing. If I go with her, then we'll be alone and finally able to talk about those things that she told me. _

_So... do I go with her and possibly face the wrath of her protective sister? _

_Or should I chicken out and live to see another day..." _I thought to myself. The answer to this only took me a couple of seconds to come up with; I was too curious to pass up this opportunity and this would be the perfect chance to get out of the house early.

"Sure, I don't mind going" I said with a shrug.

"Yay!" said Melody as her grip tightened and I felt her head nuzzle against my arm. A faint blush began to emerge on my face.

This girl was trying to get me killed.

"I still don't want you to go..." mumbled Ember, which completely confirmed my previous fear. She might as well have said "I forbid you from going with Iggy,". Yes, Ember and I were friends, but when it came to Melody, Ember saw me as a regular guy who didn't have 2% avian DNA drafted into his body. She made it almost sound like we were going out on a...date.

Another blush made itself known.

"Ah, relax. I'll totally be safe with Iggy. And if you let me go, I'll make sure to get you your favorite cookies!" said Melody enthusiastically.

_Would she really cave to a bribe? I highly doubt it, _I thought. To my very surprise, there was a slight pause before Ember said anything else.

"...What kind of cookies?" she asked.

"Oreos, of course" replied Melody.

"What flavor?"

"The originals."

"...Fine. You can go" Ember said flatly.

"Sweet!" I heard Melody say next to me before she released my arm. I was feeling a touch of disappointment that she had left my side but it didn't take me long to guess that she was hugging the life out of Ember.

_Unbelievable...she was easily bought by Oreos. I'll have to remember that one, _I thought to myself.

"Iggy, this girl better not leave your sight" I heard Ember choke out.

"I'm pretty sure she can handle herself. And keeping her in my sight will be kinda hard..." I said nonchalantly, although if I could see, I would have no problem keeping my eyes on her.

"Iggy..." Ember began, her voice now taking on the warning tone of an angry mother.

"Yes, yes, I understand" I replied quickly to avoid any injuries on my part.

"I wanna go, too!" I heard Angel say from the upstairs room that we all slept in.

"Fine, fine. Just be careful," said Ember.

"C'mon, let's go before Mother May I changes her mind" said Melody as she grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door with Angel following close behind.

So much for it just being the two of us.

O::O::O::O::O::O

On the hour long trip that it took for us to get to the store of Melody's choosing, I thought of ways to ditch Angel so that I would be able to finally talk to Melody about the "secret that I was sworn to keep under any circumstance. Including her sister". She did emphasis that part really well. It really got me wondering what this secret was if she couldn't tell Ember.

Maybe those scientist freaks did something to her at the School. My mind started to guess on its own accord; things that girls would be afraid to tell others.

Did they somehow manage to get her pregnant?! I had a bad feeling about that thought. If that was the case, then I knew I would be in trouble with the over protective sister. I could already feel my skin crawl at the thoughts of the numerous ways that she could _and would without a doubt _torture me. But I don't see how she would find that possible since we've been in that same house and in her line of sight almost every second.

Either way, I ran the floor plan of the house through my mind several times to make it easier to cook up an escape, if I even managed to make it out alive with my limbs still attached to my body.

But before I even had a chance to get one word in edge wise with Melody, Angel bolted down the aisles with her, effectively keeping her away from me. I tried to follow them but only got as far as the cash register. I mean really, what chance did I have? A blind avian hybrid boy walking around a store that he couldn't even tell where the nearest window was, much less anybody else. Those were not good odds at all. So I just leaned against what I deemed as the counter where the cash register was, considering the number of grumbles I heard the person working say, including "I need a raise…".

The only chance that I had to talk to her was when she had managed to slink away from Angel and dragged me to the candy aisle, where she proudly presented me 5 snickers bars in each of my hands. I was elated; one, because she had known that my favorite chocolate bar was snickers, and two, because there was so much of it at one time. Thinking she was just messing with me, I asked her how she proposed to pay for this, considering that Ember "forgot" to give her any money. It was hard to miss the smile in her voice when she coolly said, "I snagged a 20 when she wasn't looking."

I rolled my eyes. This little girl was manipulating and sneaky…and that's what made her awesome.

Before I could really talk to her, though, Angel came bounding around the corner and grabbed Melody and started talking about the several different types of makeup in this one aisle before snatching her away from me, once again leaving me standing there like an idiot. Why in the world would they even need to acknowledge that makeup even exists, much less look at the varieties? Well, it might come in handy if we ever happen to find ourselves on the run in Japan.

The girls could dress like geishas…I wonder how Melody would look like in a kimono…or what she looks like in general.

I sighed, blowing over the momentary depression and waited for what felt like an hour, just listening to both of them go through aisles of food and criticizing each one. After they had finished perusing the store, Melody paid for our stuff with her stolen money – all of them being snacks – and we made our way out of the store and in the air in a matter of minutes. I could feel the heat of the sun soak through the back of my clothes and my feathers and I treasured every moment of it; nowadays, it seemed pretty rare to feel the sun on my skin at all, mostly because the skies were usually clouded over, not even allowing a tiny speck of warmth to seep through its chilly and dense atmosphere.

The girls immediately began eating their snacks and debating about which one is better, so I turned my attention to the rest of the world, paying close attention to the sounds of the weirdest bird calls that I have ever heard not even 40 feet behind us.

_Maybe I should get into bird calling…_ I thought, just before the silence had registered in my brain.

The girls were still right by my side; I could hear their almost synchronized beating of wings close by. Just the fact that they had stopped talking so suddenly put me on edge, and I was about to open my mouth to say something when Angel beat me to it.

"So, are you going to tell her?" she asked Melody.

"Who's her? And what are you going to tell?" I asked, now utterly confused.

"Yeah, Angel. What are you talking about?" asked Melody, sounding just as lost as I was.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. That thing that you were planning on telling Iggy, but you 'never got around' to saying it," Angel replied with absolute certainty in her voice. My full attention reverted back to the conversation as a moment of silence hovered over us.

"It's really rude to read people's minds, you know," Melody said, dropping the innocent act.

"I didn't really read your mind. You have that ability to block me out for the most part like your sister," Angel corrected, and I could imagine the small pout that appeared on her face when she didn't get exactly what she wanted. "But I knew that you were hiding something. And apparently I was right."

"Hey, does someone mind including the blind kid in this discussion?" I asked, now feeling agitated. I hate being left out of important things. There was a small pause before Melody let out a small sigh.

"Well…how should I put this…" started Melody in a different voice; one that sounded exactly like Ember's, but in a higher pitch. "This may be a little hard to believe but…I'm not just Ember's sister…

I'm her twin."

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**Author's Note: **Woot! First chapter in months!! Isn't it exciting? Ok, not really, lol. I'm not going to apologize for this chapter coming out so later, mainly because I've already apologized in my previous chapters, so you basically get the idea XD.

Next topic for discussion. I know some of you may be like, "WTF? That was so random!" I know I would. But please, before you completely dismantle the chapter/story (if you already haven't), wait for the next chapter. I've been planning on the perfect way to introduce this for months, so therefore it also comes with an explanation. If it doesn't make sense after that, then I give you full permission to rip it to little tiny pieces in your mind. ^.^

And finally. For those of you who nominated my story and put it up against the ingenious works of the other fanfiction works in my genre, I absolutely appreciate you with all of my heart (at first I thought it was some kind of joke when I got the email. Then I began to hyperventilate for no reason whatsoever. Typical me. XD ).

Oh, and one more thing. Comments. Now. (And votes will be adored also).


	32. Chapter 30: Extra Jigsaw Pieces

**Author's Note: **Okay everyone, for once this is an **IMPORTANT** note, so you **MUST READ!!** (oh noez, an important author's note! *gasps*)

Anyway, the reason why I say this is important is because I'm mainly warning you all. If you don't pay attention to this chapter, then nothing is going to make any type of sense to you in the coming chapters.

But then again, everybody ignores warnings, like don't overdose on Ibuprofen (small things like that XD).

**(Ember walks in and pushes the author out of the way)**: Oh, and one more thing, this lunatic here takes absolutely no credit for Maximum Ride or the awesome characters in it. Well...just the ones that she made up in this fanfic. But other than that, she's lame and can never compete against James Patterson.

**(author)**: Hey! I'm not a lunatic! Or lame! Why would you say that?

**(Ember)**: Because you're turning me into a sap! Jeesh, making me cry and getting me captured. I have yet to see me kick some serious butt! You know what, I'm going to take my frustrations out on you! *shoots flames at the author*

**(author)**:NOO!!! *runs away*

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**Chapter 30: Extra Jigsaw Pieces**

**Iggy's P.O.V.**

_I'm her twin._

Those three words, accompanied by Melody's musical tone of voice, fluttered into my ever sensitive ears and echoed through my brain. In those few seconds devoid of sound other than the wind rushing past us, I considered that as an answer…right before I snorted and began to laugh.

"Uh huh. That's exactly what you wanted to say. So what's the real news?" I asked, amusement spreading across my face.

"I'm telling the truth! There's a reason why we have the same birthday, you know," Melody asserted.

"The same birthday yes, but completely different years. Ember must be, what, 15 years old. You are only 8! How does that even qualify as a twin?" I asked.

"I know my own birthday, and we were born the same day," Melody retorted.

"That makes no sense…" stated Angel with confusion clearly in her child like voice.

"I know it's hard to believe-"

"That's not what I meant," interrupted Angel.

"Ember said that she escaped the School when she was 13 and that you were only 6," I commented.

"What?" asked Melody, taken off guard.

"She also dreams about that night a lot. Especially the part where she drops you and blacks out," Angel added.

"Now THAT makes no sense. She never dropped me…damn it. They must have messed with her memory," Melody mumbled.

My head was beginning to hurt just by hearing her say this. I knew the School was ruthless and would do anything to get results from their experiments – hell, they grafted freaking wings onto our backs. If they could do that then they could definitely change someone's memory.

But was this all actually true?

Could Melody be the one with the messed up memory? Or maybe she was another robot-thing like Max was…

"But everything Ember said was on the laptop that she had. And it was on the internet, too," I insisted, seeing if her memory story would falter. But she only scoffed at my attempt.

"You act as if the internet doesn't lie. And where exactly did she get the laptop?" Melody asked, already knowing the reply.

"The School…" mumbled Angel.

"Exactly," replied Melody, as if that small sentence was the answer to this whole mess. Well, it pretty much was.

My brow creased together as my mind sifted through all of this. What Melody said did make a little bit of sense. If she got the laptop from the School without losing any limbs, then it was obvious that they had messed with some kind of information.

"So we've been duped," I murmured to no one in particular.

"Yep," answered Melody in the same tone of voice. "Ember and I were both taken when we were 6. But we never saw each other until now; we were immediately separated. I was placed in some tube thing without any of my senses from what I found out later to be 5 years. 5 long years without a sense of smell, taste, touch, sight, or hearing. Do you know what that's like? Those first few days you begin to scream even though you can't hear until you finally realize that there is no use. You begin to lose your mind, slowly but surely. To question your existence," began Melody in a monotonous voice, as if she was remembering those unpleasant times. "I don't know when it happened, but sooner or later, I gained the ability that I have now; basically to sit in people's minds, see everything through their eyes, and see people's thoughts and dreams…kind of like what I do with Ember. The whitecoats didn't even know about it, even though they were observing me non-stop.

"It was then that I found out what they were doing with her. They were using her as a guinea pig; forcing her to use her powers in order to increase her destructiveness…at least that's what I found out. Apparently they didn't get the results that they were after because they were complaining, but right after that, even though the whitecoats disapproved of the action, someone purposely set her free. I never found the reason why. They let me out of the tube after that," Melody finished, and I could hear the displeasure in her voice.

After a long minute of silence had passed between the three of us, Angel spoke. "So…you're not a pretty princess?" she asked, sounding disappointed. She would have loved to have a royal friend, or at least something close to one of those 7 Disney princesses that were so famous. Melody chuckled at this question.

"Ha. No. Our parents were just normal people; maybe they had some high positions in whatever they did, but that's about it. That diary thing that Ember found has nothing but BS in it. And whoever put it there knew about Ember's messed up mind," she explained.

"Then we were probably being watched," I mumbled solemnly. _But then again, when are we never being watched by something?_ I glumly began to think. Both Melody and Angel were silent. "We should probably say something to her," I began.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" they both shouted to me at the exact same time. They were probably discussing it between themselves via brainwaves, or whatever mind readers use. I found that quite annoying at times.

"_Oh, so now I'm annoying? Thanks, Iggy," _thought Angel.

"_I'm sorry for what I think in my head, Angel," _I sarcastically replied to her thoughts. "I don't see why we shouldn't. Isn't this important? We're being watched right now, and doesn't Ember have a right to know what really happened?" I retorted to their combined "no".

"We are leaving that place today, so it doesn't really matter. And what am I supposed to say to her? 'Hey Ember, we're back. Oh, and by the way, I'm really your twin and everything that you know is a lie'? Imagine what would happen if someone told you that. And besides, her mind is totally unstable. Her power to control the elements of fire and water are already dangerous, but this might just push her off the edge and she may just lose any control that she had over it. And I have a feeling that whoever did this to her wants exactly that to happen. Therefore, if you utter even a little bit of this conversation to her, I will have to kick you," Melody said, and I could feel her gaze on me.

This threat didn't even register in my mind as danger as I thought of what Ember could do. I recalled when Gazzy had retold what had happened at the little lake with the purple hand without sparing me the gruesome details and I shuddered. I didn't even want to imagine what Ember would be like if she was capable of doing THAT while still in her right mind.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I responded.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?" asked Angel. I immediately began to tune in to what she was listening to.

"Oh yeah, that sound. It's pretty close now. Aren't they birds?" I questioned.

"Not by a long shot," replied a voice that sounded perfectly human as the muffled screams of both Melody and Angel dove into my ears.

My heart sank to the darkest depths of my body.

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**Author's Note (2): ****Woah, two author's note in one chapter. That's a new record for me.**

**Anyway, for those of you who still didn't get the chapter, here's a short summary:**

Everything that Ember knows is basically a lie.

Only 3 people in our little band of heroes knows the truth (Angel, Iggy, and Melody).

They do not want to tell Ember because they are afraid that she will freak out and go berserk.

And now Iggy, Angel, and Melody are being attacked in the air while on their way home from the store (seriously, how long should it take them to get there?! XD ).

Most people are probably thinking: "Well, where the f*** does that leave Jake?"

Chillax. I'm getting there.

So don't destroy me via reviews...which I'm still waiting to get more of. XD


	33. Chapter 31: New Sight

**Chapter 31: New Sight**

**Iggy's P.O.V.**

I immediately distanced myself from the new voice in front of me, keeping tabs of where Melody and Angel were by their muffled cries. The unfamiliar voice shot out a pixie laugh and I let out a tense breath.

_"Angel. Are you okay?" _I thought, hoping with all my might that these new enemies didn't harm them.

_"Yeah, we're okay. But I can't do anything; they aren't listening to what I say in their heads." _Angel replied, and even her thoughts sounded panicky and scared. Not that I can blame her.

"Sorry to startle you, but we need to take these two shorties away for a while," declared the voice, sounding very much like a human girl. The only problem was that human girls shouldn't be _flying._

"Who are you calling short you pint sized twerp!" came Melody's angry chime before her voice was silenced once again.

_"How many are there, Angel?"_ I asked as several plans rushed through my head.

_"Only three. Two of them are holding us, so you only have to fight one,"_ was her response.

I raised an eyebrow. Only one? What, are they taking it easy on me? I considered that as an insult.

"Where are you taking them?" I demanded. The girl scoffed.

"Not that it's any of your business, but we're taking them to 'Prince Jake', " said the girl.

"Prince?" I inquired, my eyebrow rising at the tone of distaste that she placed on his name.

"Self proclaimed," came the voice from in front of me.

"To be truthful, he's completely off his rocker!" the same voice added, but this time from the left of me, where Angel was.

"Picked him up from the nuthouse," said the voice again coming from where Melody was.

"He only has so much power because he's wealthy and contributes a lot to our little...projects...," finished the voice that returned back in front of me. I clenched my teeth. Even though Angel had said that there were only three people here, it was hard to believe that there wasn't just one person going from one place to another at a really fast rate. I heard a small giggle. "Oh, you look pretty confused," said the girl.

_"Angel, I could use a little help here. Any hints on her weakness?" _I questioned, but I received nothing but silence.

"We are Siamese if you please…" whispered the girl in my ear.

_"Shit. I didn't even hear her move!"_ I frantically thought as I spun around and threw a round house kick, aiming for her head, or somewhere crucial. But instead of landing a successful hit like I usually did against any other enemy, my foot only swiped through air.

"Huh. You're pretty fast for a blind boy. But still not quite fast enough to catch me!" mocked the girl, who shot off another innocent pixie laugh. The other two laughed in the exact same way, obviously enjoying the show. I rolled my eyes. I had heard somewhere that Siamese twins were known to be devious, but Siamese triplets...they were in a whole other league.

_Why isn't Angel saying anything?! _I thought in a frustrated tone.

"Oh, your blond friend? Don't worry about her. She's knocked out with sleeping gas," replied the pixie laughing enemy in front of me.

_What, is she a mind reader, too?_

"No, I'm not," came the reply. I glared at her.

_Then how the hell does she know what I'm thinking?!_

Another giggle. "Because it's written all over your face."

"Don't fuck with me," I growled intensely before I shot in her direction, ready to deliver a punch. I expected her to move away like she did with my kick, hoping that this time she would make some kind of sound when she dodged. But this time, she did the exact opposite. I felt my fist ram right into the palm of her hand before her fingers caged it with a tight grip. I let out a sudden gasp; not just because of the unusual amount of strength but something else happened.

Something amazing. Something that I would have pinched myself for if I wasn't preoccupied with this fight.

I could actually see who I was fighting against. And not just the inside of her body like I could do before. I could actually see her standing in front of me amidst the rest of the pitch black that covered my vision.

She came out like a 3D black and white character, almost like one of those old western movies that I heard they used to show. Even the clothes that she was wearing, which was a simple assassin's costume - face mask and all - turned out to be a tinted gray. I now saw that she too had wings; small, sleek ones that seemed to reflect the sunlight.

_Melody was right; this girl is shorter than her,_ I mused.

I took in all of this in the mere seconds before the girl released her grip on my hand and kicked me on the side of my stomach with one swift movement. All too soon, I was once again cast off into nothing but darkness and I listened to the whistle of the wind before I stopped myself from going backward any further.

_That was some kick..._ I thought as I clutched my left side, already feeling the beginnings of a bruise starting to make itself known. _I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow morning._

That laugh again fluttered into my ears. "This is so much fun! You are pretty amusing," she exclaimed. I was being mocked; she wasn't even trying. But instead of getting more frustrated, I suddenly began laughing. It even surprised me, because I couldn't stop. The Flock would have thought that I had lost my mind if they saw me now.

"The only thing that's 'amusing' is you. For someone who wears an assassin costume, you sure do talk a lot. Shouldn't assassins be swift and finish their job quietly?" I asked sarcastically.

"So you can see us?" asked the girl, her playful tone now taking something close to curiosity.

"Not really," I replied, a small smirk creeping on my face. "You've had all of these chances to get rid of me and you didn't take it. Well, now you're going to regret messing with me," I said, cracking my knuckles. She had been using her advantages against me for way too long; it was time for me to turn the tables around…Iggy style.

"Hahaha, sounds like fun!" she proclaimed.

"Hey. Enough playing around. We have to get these two back before the sleeping gas wears off," said one of the Siamese triplets from the sidelines.

They still didn't take me seriously. So rude.

I bolted toward the girl as she made her reply.

"Aw, really? Well, that's too bad," she said, truly sounding disappointed.

_Countdown before I pummel this annoying little girl in the face…3…2…1…_

"Sorry, blind dude. Fun's over," she said, her voice becoming malicious. I paused for just a short second, but it was long enough to hear the sound of metal being taken out from somewhere, the click of something being locked in, and the swift movement of a finger pulling a trigger…

Before my mind could even tell my overworked muscles to do some awesome move out of the Matrix, a sharp pain went right through the bruised side of my stomach and even went through the edge of my left wing. The wind began to pass by me yet again at a fast rate. For the first few seconds, I could think about nothing else but the almost unbearable pain. What kind of bullet from a gun could make me hurt so much?!

I felt myself ram into something thick in those short amount of agonizing seconds. My head ricocheted from the abrupt stop and my back lurched forward painfully. The taste of iron immediately filled my mouth and I spit out the warm liquid with distaste.

I felt like crap. Worse than crap. Like being backhanded by Godzilla.

My heavy pants weren't making me feel any better. The pain in my pinned wings didn't even register in my mind compared with the wound in my side.

_If that wasn't considered cheating, I don't know what is. Stupid advantages, _I thought sourly asI touched my now sopping wet side gently to observe the damage that the bullet had left. However, I was surprised when the gift of sight had reappeared to me, the same thing that had happened with the girl. I sat very still, trying not to cause any more intense pain, as my hand rested on my side.

Well, I felt the wetness, but I forced myself to look down as I felt something protruding from my wound.

Something warm, long, and slim.

I looked down slowly and the painful sharp intake of breath caught in my throat, along with another dose of blood. The thing that had made my blood come out from my side was not caused by a bullet on steroids, but a harpoon that also seemed to reflect the sunlight that landed on it, just as the girl's wings had. I ran my hand the length of the rod until it became cold and I could no longer see.

_So I can only see things if it's warm…so convenient._

I tried to hold the harpoon in my trembling hands while forcing myself up from wherever I was, but it was no use. I coughed up even more blood as I settled back down and dealt with the fresh pain.

Since I couldn't really turn my head to look behind me without turning my body, I used my left hand to blindly search for the rest of the rod for me, my hands sliding against my still warm blood. My hand made contact with something rough…wood…tree bark…tree. My wings were hurting, my side was anything but fine, and I was stuck sitting here because part of the harpoon that was in my side was also lodged inside the tree.

Well isn't that just lovely.

_Shit…I will not just sit here and play the waiting game, _I thought, forcing myself to pull my body off of the rod…centimeter by agonizing centimeter. Before I could get too far, I heard the sound of feet crunching on the ground nearby. I couldn't say anything; I was trying hard not to scream out in pain, but that was made into an utter fail of a goal when the feet that I heard stopped in front of me. Someone grabbed the harpoon in their hands, placed one of their feet on my shoulder and easily pulled the harpoon out of both the tree trunk and my body as if they were doing nothing but picking a simple flower out of a bouquet.

The scream that came sounded so foreign to my ears in the still air; I only knew that it belonged to me because the pain that came with it was inescapable.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 11 being the torture at the School, this would rank about a 6½.

My hands instinctively went over the now gaping wound, and not only could I feel but I could now see my gray blood rushing through my fingers through blurry eyes. The pixie laugh sounded distant, almost like hearing it from the end of a very long tunnel.

"You don't look so good," giggled the girl in front of me. I spit out some more blood that had gurgled into my mouth.

"Fuck you," I muttered, sounding weak.

"Well, aren't we the spirited one," she said and I could imagine her smiling largely. "In case you were wondering, you won't die. Although I could have killed you at any time, I made sure not to hit a vital spot because I like you. You're pretty fun to play with."

I didn't respond; I was too busy fighting off drowsiness.

"Your friends should be out and about pretty soon; when they find you, be sure to tell them what happened. I don't want 'The Prince' to be disappointed when you guys don't show up."

My eyes were beginning to flutter.

"Oh, and one more thing before I go." she said, sounding closer than she did before; maybe right by my ear. "Madness is contagious," she whispered before I heard the sound of some twigs cracking under her feet as she backed away from me.

_What? What are you talking about? What does that mean?_

The questions were in my brain were poised on my bloodied lips, but all that came out were choked exhales of breath as my eyes finally lost to the drowsiness and my body fell to the soaked ground.

"Bye! I'll see you very soon so that we can play again!" she said innocently before I felt the swift breeze of her wings on my face.

_Angel…Melody…I'm really sorry…but I _swear _we will get you back…_

_.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.  
_


	34. Chapter 32: What Lies Within

**Author's Note: **Wow, it's been a while hasn't it? Sorry for the wait you guys; it's just been really busy lately. Plus I've been lazy. X3

But I must thank** TheBurningQuiet101 **for sending me that message to remind me to get my ass moving (although that's not how they worded it). XD At least I know that there are still people who read and wait for my chapters. So thanks!

Oh, and comments would be great. Thankee and keep reading!

* * *

**Chapter 32: What Lies Within**

My fingers drummed against the kitchen countertop in a very fast paced but catchy rhythm, only freezing in mid drum for me to glance at the windows and the small shadows that grew larger as time sprinted away.

"They're late," I stated sourly, my fingers beginning to pound on the poor countertop again after a quick glance which confirmed that it was late afternoon.

Really late afternoon.

Everyone was ready to go; our bags were already packed with the small amount of things that we could stuff in them and already downstairs stacked precariously on top of each other in a small corner; everyone was just lazing around the house…everyone except three people who would be in very big trouble when they got back.

"Relax," said Gazzy as he poked his head from behind the wall in the game room. "Come play a few games of Gears of War with me. I need some competition and this may be the last chance for me to beat you." Nudge also poked her head out and looked at me wearily.

"Yeah, please play him. I'm getting tired of getting curb-stomped," she said.

"Let me play! C'mon, it's my turn!" I heard Total yell from further in the room.

Fang stayed quiet as he ate the remaining cherries out of the bag that Iggy had left out. He looked as if he was brooding over something.

Not that it was any of my business.

I blew out a strand of loose hair out of my eyes, allowing a millimeter of my pent up worry and frustration to escape from my body. How can I relax when I've been feeling as if something bad was going to happen since the moment that I opened my eyes this morning?

Maybe it was the weather that was making me jittery. The uncharacteristic clear blue sky with only a few wandering clouds and the unnaturally bright sunlight made me question if someone wasn't planning something.

Everyone thought I was paranoid. All except Fang, who stayed in his own little world and completely ignored what was going on.

Not that I was depending on his opinion to fortify my sanity.

"Hey, what's that mysterious ticking noise?" asked Total, plopping his furry butt right in the middle of the game room doorway. Nudge walked toward him and stretched, followed by Gazzy who looked bored. Apparently, their game of Gears of War had finally come to an end.

"Hahaha. That was hilarious," said Nudge, her mouth breaking out into a large smile. We had watched The Potter Puppet Pals a few days ago, and I must admit, it was pretty funny.

"Snape, Snape, Severus Snape," began Gazzy, his face lighting up with delight as he began to swing from side to side.

"No guys, I'm being serious," Total urged with his head tilted and his ears perked up.

It was not very often that Total was serious, so we all shut up and tuned in to what Total was listening to. Even Fang - who was in the middle of putting another cherry into his mouth - put down the uneaten cherry, snapped out of his reverie, and listened intently.

There was indeed a ticking sound coming from the direction of the stairs that led to the second floor. It was low and indistinct, but in the dead silence, it sounded like Big Ben alerting everyone the hour with its loud chimes.

"Guys…is it me or does that not sound like The Potter Puppet Pals…" Nudge spoke slowly, and her voice was the trigger to get our minds restarted again.

"Shit…" I mumbled through clenched teeth.

"Everyone take cover!" yelled Total, ducking behind the wall in the game room again. Nudge and Gazzy followed without a second thought.

_BEEEEEP!_

I was the closest to the beeping noise. There was no time for me to find cover.

_This is going to hurt, _I thought before I closed my eyes and made an X with my arms as a pathetic excuse for protection. Someone yanked me back by the collar just as the bomb went off and I fell to the floor, slamming my back against the wall in the process. I didn't open my eyes to see if I was dead, dying, or wounded to a minor state, but the fact that I could still inhale the smoke into my lungs and feel some wood chips hit my skin confirmed that I still had use of my nose and some of my senses. I tried opening my eyes to see, but the cloud of dust flew right into my eyes, making them water.

This just proved my point. _Never _trust a day in London when there is wonderful weather.

"Guys?" I called out; inhaling too much smoke at once and instantly beginning to cough uncontrollably.

"That definitely was _not_ The Potter Puppet Pals!" I heard Nudge say amidst a lot of coughs.

"It is if you consider us the ones that are being blown up," added Gazzy.

"Oh no!" exclaimed Total.

"What's wrong?" asked Nudge.

"My fur! It was totally clean and now it has debris in it," he responded, sounding downcast.

"Fang?" I called out, trying once again to open my eyes and failing miserably.

"Right here," he answered, sounding dangerously close to me. I gave one final cough before moving my hand to clear the room on our side so that we could at least breathe without choking and see what was going on. After I had rubbed my eyes free of the dust that found it fun to block me from seeing, I opened my eyes to find black fabric right in front of me. I glanced up to see Fang staring back down at me from a few inches away with his hands placed on both sides of me on the wall so that he wouldn't topple all over me. His almost midnight eyes bore into mine and I shifted my gaze away from his to look at his clothes…

"Fang!" I called out again, this time out of shock. The shirt that he was wearing, which was nice, clean, and in perfect condition just minutes ago, was now decimated with holes, rips, and tears from the flying wood chunks from the blast. Along with that, little bits of flames had caught on to his shirt, slowly burning through the dark fabric to his skin.

"Are you okay?" Fang asked me, sounding concerned at my sudden outburst of his name.

"I should be asking you that, stupid!" I exclaimed as I quickly patted out the small embers on his shirt. _He is such an idiot!_ _Who asked him to protect me and risk getting hurt? Hell, he could have been killed! _Fang just shrugged, as if he could hear the angry protests in my mind.

"As long as you're okay, I'm fine," he stated calmly, as if he was just talking about the weather.

"…Idiot…" I mumbled. Continuing to extinguish the small flames without looking back up at him. _Don't say those kinds of things when someone is throwing bombs at us._

By the time that I had put out the small fires, everyone was already up from their hiding spots and grabbing their bags. Fang and I were just about to get up from that awkward position to do the same when something shiny sprinted through the smoke on the other side to our smoke free territory. The object stuck into the wall right beside my ear, but not before it made a small cut on Fang's shoulder and my cheek. I watched a small trail of blood begin to make its way down his arm just as I felt the liquid slide down my cheek. It was then that I slowly began turning my head toward the unexpected object and my eyes widened as I took a good look at it.

Beside my head, not more than 6 centimeters away, was a slim silver harpoon that was lodged deep into the wall. It glistened in the dimming sunlight.

"Do you think they're still in there?" spoke a voice from the other side of the now clearing smoke.

"Yeah. They wouldn't leave without the rest of their group. I just hope that I didn't hit the girl. You know how _he _gets if things don't go his way," said another.

We all turned out eyes toward the smoke including Fang, who finally stood up from his protective stance over me. It wasn't hard to spot the two Erasers walking closer and closer toward us through the clearing smoke.

"Oh no! What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?!" Nudge whispered intensely while hopping from one foot to the next, looking as if she was doing the potty dance.

"Give me a second," I mumbled, focusing all of my attention toward the gaping hole while standing up from the ground. The bomb didn't create a fire, but it gave me enough wood to work with; a small flame made by me was enough to engulf the hole and make a strong barricade between us and them.

"Ok, so not that you've done that, how are we getting out?" asked Total.

Oh.

I didn't think that far ahead.

"Windows?" I proposed.

"The ones down here are too small and I don't think we want to try the ones upstairs," said Nudge, instantly squashing my idea like a small bug.

"Then we'll just have to use the front door like regular people," said Total. Fang went around the kitchen counter to peak in-between the slits of the blinds at the window.

"We're surrounded," he noted simply before moving away to avoid being seen.

"Really? I thought there was just a few of them that came for some tea and scones!" retorted Total sarcastically.

"So, is there anything that we can use to help us out?" asked Nudge, ignoring Total's remark.

"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Gazzy before he began bustling around the kitchen, yanking drawers open and pulling out utensils. After his burst of energy, what lay on the counter was a large carving knife, a fork, my switchblade, a smaller but still sharp dinner knife, and a hammer.

"You mind telling me why a hammer is in the kitchen drawers?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, Iggy and I just so happened to stumble on it while upstairs-" began Gazzy, who shifted his eyes away from my hard stare in an attempt to avoid the question.

"We don't have time for this!" interrupted Total, who had somehow ended up on the kitchen counter. "Grab a weapon and let's get out of here!"

Everyone's hands were like a blur over the makeshift weapons; Fang of course made sure to be the first one to get his hands on the carving knife, Gazzy had managed to grab the switchblade, Nudge got the dinner knife, and Total, aiming for the knife in Fang's hand, had only managed to get the fork, which he placed in his mouth unwillingly.

Which left me with the large hammer.

"Let's go," said Fang as I picked up the hammer skeptically. Total jumped into Fang's bag, making sure to keep his head out in case he had to be of assistance.

Nudge giggled and I did smirk a little. The sight of Total sticking his head out of the bag with a fork in his mouth looking ready to kill was a pretty funny sight.

We all lined up at the door like little ducks with Fang in front, followed by Nudge, Gazzy, and me flanking the back. The three tense seconds that Fang stood there by the door felt like eternity and I could hear the sound of a gunshot in my head as he yanked open the door and took a running start toward the hordes of both Flyboys and regular Erasers.

It seemed like the night of the living dead.

I heard Nudge gasp as she witnessed Fang ruthlessly hack off the hand of a charging Eraser before his sleep crow-like wings shot out from his back and push him up toward the dimly lit sky.

"You're up," I said to Nudge, and I could see the hesitation in her movements before she sprinted out through the door to join Fang, taking down some more Erasers along the way. Gazzy was about to bolt out, but the sound of something thumping came from behind us. We both turned around to see what had made the sound. Out of the dying flames from the huge bonfire in front of the destroyed wall, along with a rank smell, were the abominations known as Flyboys. The small flames did not harm them in any way, but they did burn off the small tatters of fur off of their metal bodies and scorched them until they were nothing but ashes. Their crimson glass eyes looked on us as we stared back at them.

"Gazzy…Gazzy go!" I urged, practically pushing him out the door. He stumbled out before gaining his balance again and sprinted down the dirt road. As Gazzy released his wings and took off from the ground, I rushed out as well, ready to ditch this chicken coop to find Iggy, Angel, and my sister, ready to crush some faces in when I found out who did this, although I had a good idea…Oof!

I was yanked out of my murderous thoughts by my face making contact with the wonderful ground. I immediately rubbed the rising dust out of my eyes and looked behind me to see what had dragged me down. Out of the shadows from inside of the house, staring at me with its cold red eyes like something out of a creepy horror film, was another one of those Flyboys. The number of red pairs immediately increased, as did the amount of clawed hands that were now on my leg. They began to drag me back into the house.

_What is up with these things?! _Was the single thought that came to mind as my legs thrashed this way and that in an attempt to shake the cold metal off. My fingernails on my left hand filled with dirt as I was dragged along, and I tried in vain to use my sole weapon as a pickaxe as I continued to dig it into the soft earth.

_Oh this is ridiculous!_ I glanced behind me once again, and the tip of my sneaker was already behind the point of no return behind the doorway.

"Ember!" yelled a voice from above, and I looked up to see Fang staring down at me amidst the rest of the Flock fighting against enemies. His expression grew dark as he realized what was keeping me from joining them and he began to charge back down, only to become surrounded by more enemies. I growled and held the hammer with more conviction than I had before.

_Hope I have good aim._ My body half turned as I was dragged further along the dirt, my whole leg now disappearing into the house.

"Let…go…of…me…you…MORONS!" I yelled, the hammer swinging wildly, making contact with their metal faces more than half of the time. One of them tried to yank the hammer out of my clutches, but I wouldn't allow them to; my feet thrashed around so violently, like a spoiled brat throwing a very bad tantrum.

Within minutes, the weight on my leg slackened, and I took the opportunity to snatch my leg back and into the sun again while scrambling up from the ground panting hard. I braced myself for the metal men to come charging at me again, but there was no type of movement or sound coming from the doorway

_Maybe they gave up…yeah, don't count on that one, _I began to think as I turned my back away from the ominous door to get a running start.

I didn't even take two steps before I saw more Flyboys emerging from the trees around our makeshift home like some hidden army in the jungle, encompassing me into a tight circle. I didn't have enough space to spread out my wings unless I wanted to take the risk of them clipping it off altogether.

I ground my teeth together and the grip on my weapon became even tighter. Why did it always seem like they were gunning for just me? The only thing that I've ever done to them was destroy maybe 100 of them in my lifetime.

Ok, 125 tops.

But that doesn't mean anything, right? They don't feel anything. I mean, they probably mass produce these things at the school on a daily basis! And it's their faults, not mine. If they wanted to live, they shouldn't come looking for me.

One of them from behind me made the first move, charging at me in a football tackling position. I spun around quickly and smashed the head of the hammer into his metal skull, sending him face planting into the dirt at my feet.

This was infuriating. I didn't want to be here. I didn't want this to happen. Why couldn't we just live in peace? What right did they have to steal and hurt my friends, and then try to kill me? Why did they take my sister?

My sister…I want to see her. I want to see her _now_.

With my eyes starting to see nothing but red, my body tensed. "You wanted trouble…now you've found it." I spoke softly, with death in my voice, a voice that for just a split second did not belong to me.

But I was given no time to dwell on this fact; my body launched me into my first target with such speed; I didn't realize what was going on until smashed into the enemies crimson eye. The body crumpled in front of me, the one eye that was still intact staring back at me through no longer lit lenses.

I was not satisfied.

I stood there, looking down at it expectantly for something. I did not know what I was waiting for, but when my eyes did not see it, I wanted to strike the man-made metal repeatedly, again and again, until nothing but metal dust was left…

I was unable to fulfill this strange desire, for now the rest of the Flyboy army was beginning to attack me. My body lurched toward them and swung my hammer as if it were a battle axe.

This feeling was alien to me. New and strange, exhilarating yet terrifying. I could feel laughter bubbling up from my chest into my throat, waiting for me to let it out as my fallen enemies crashed back to earth. What was this feeling; this entity that made my spine tingle and my heart thump?

Madness.

That was the only word that came to mind, and as I ran it through my head again, it seemed to fit perfectly.

_There is something lurking inside you. Won't you let it out?_ I thought to myself. It was in a cheery tone, a voice that sounded identical to mine.

But these were not my usual thoughts. This voice was not my own.

It took me a few moments to realize that I had stopped moving. I was panting like a dog in heat, and my palms were incredibly sweaty. I looked around stupidly, as if I was just waking up after several hours f sleepwalking, and took in a loud gasp.

The ground was completely littered with metal parts. The bottom half of jaws, arms without bodies, eye parts; there was even a head! It was also then that I took a count of how many there were; about 25 to 30 of them lay on the dirt ground…well, unless I accidentally counted a body twice or something. My eyes grew wide with fright and I almost dropped my hammer.

_I…did all of this?_

"Ember, let's go!" yelled Total. I turned around and looked toward the sky, just in time to see Fang kick the last Flyboy out of the sky. None of them seemed to have seen what I had just done; they had been busy with their own problems. I took in a huge breath and nodded, feeling nothing less than grateful that they didn't witness it. My wings were finally able to fully spread out, and as I got ready to jump into the air with the rest of my not kidnapped friends, one of the Flyboys stood up in front of me again.

He looked like some kind of resurrected zombie, with the way he limped toward me with his tattered face. One of his crimson eyes drooped out of his socket, being held only by several colored wires. It was quite the spectacle. He reached out a hand toward me, as if it still believed that it could hurt me. I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"You're a waste of time," I said, and instead of using the head of the hammer, I held it like a pickaxe in one hand and shoved the sharp end into the side of his head. He fell ever so gracefully by my feet, knocking up a cloud of dust as he did. "I'll take that," I said as I yanked the hammer back out of his head.

_Probably should have done that from the beginning,_ I thought as I _finally_ took off from the ground. As I ascended, I looked back down at the area and saw that there were _still_ some Flyboys that were alive. A few of them had made it to the roof and were about to take off.

_What the hell! They're just like cockroaches! _I chucked my hammer at one of them on the roof and it hit them square in the face. I looked toward the group again, picking up speed to get to them, and on my left side, I saw what was undoubtedly a bomb dropping down just as fast as I was going up.

"Gazzy?!" I called out in frightened shock, but my voice was tuned out by the loud BOOM from underneath me. Even from way up here, I could still feel the heat coming from the explosion.

"YES!" cried out Gazzy, pumping his little fists in the air. "Oh, Iggy would have _loved _to hear that one!" he exclaimed when I finally caught up with them. "Bang, bang, bang, bang. Vamanos, vamanos." Gazzy began to sing the six words from the commercial 'Left 4 Dead' under his breath as we skedaddled out of there as fast as we could.

"You ok?" Fang asked next to me. His voice knocked me out of my daze and my body tensed, but I kept my eyes straight ahead.

_No, I am not okay. I think something is wrong with me. I went on a killing spree back there!_ Instead of saying my thought out loud, I lied and nodded.

I couldn't say anything. No, it's more like I didn't want to. Whatever I felt back there, I could feel that it was still there, hiding, biding its time. I was afraid of the voice that would come out when I spoke.

_There is something lurking inside you. Won't you let it out?_

There it was again. That sickly sweet tone, filled with nothing but venom.

_No. No I won't. And I never will. So go away._

This was something that I would never allow to see the light of day again.


	35. Chapter 33: Discovery

**Chapter 33: Discovery**

_When I see him, I'm pummeling his face into the ground._

_But what if he's hurt?_

_Serves him right. I told them not to go in the first place._

_I hope they're all alright. I want to find them soon._

_I knew I shouldn't have trusted him with Angel and Melody. If they got hurt too, then he's as good as dead._

Between concern and anger, I didn't know which of the two emotions had dominated my mind. It was like a battle royal was taking place inside of my head which resulted in nothing but a stalemate.

It had only been a few minutes since that big fight down at our small hideout, but the wind whipping at my face had cleared my head for the most part. I found that I could now control that oppressive, unnatural force that had shown itself earlier. But now that I was aware of it, it put me on edge. I could feel it just sitting inside of me, waiting for the right moment to rear its ugly head once more. I gave an involuntary shudder at this thought.

Of course the _one _person that I didn't want to talk to at the moment, much less be close to, had noticed me shudder. He let himself fall back to be by me, leaving Nudge and Gazzy up front, who were bantering about which soda was the best, all while keeping their eyes peeled for something out of the ordinary.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Fang.

I nodded, keeping my eyes down to try to see past the thick cover of the trees. My battling emotions shifted their attention toward Fang, more than ready to take out all of my frustrations out on him.

_Why does he care anyway? Does he enjoy messing with me to see my reaction? First, he draws me closer, and then he pushes me away. What game does he think he's playing at? _

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

I shrugged. He was making it very difficult for me to ignore him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him getting closer to me. His right wing skimmed on my left. "Hey… look at me."

My teeth clenched together. Being this close made me want to veer immediately to the right; to gain back that space that was there previously. But I couldn't do that. That would definitely prove that something _was_ wrong.

"Ember, just look-"

"Hey guys. Since the place is swarming with Erasers and Flyboys, do you think that Iggy and them would have seen some sign of them? So maybe they hid in the trees so that they wouldn't be seen. Because they're obviously not up here," began Nudge as she broke off her conversation with Gazzy to look at us. I nodded once and Fang fell silent, but didn't distance himself from me.

For once, I was saved by Nudge. That's a shocker.

Without another word, I dive bombed toward the tree tops, followed closely by the rest of them. It didn't take long for us to find an opening large enough for us to land in, and in a matter of minutes, all of our feet had touched solid ground once more.

"I saw the road up ahead; it's not too far from here. They must be nearby," said Nudge as we brushed off any stray leaves within our reach that had lodged itself in our feathers. I began to walk ahead of them, sidestepping thick bushes and making sure not to get my foot caught in the small holes made by the furry creatures that were no doubt nearby.

A few minutes had managed to go by before I found myself tuning out everything other than the sound of my footsteps against the dry leaves and my breath through my nostrils. The same thoughts echoed through my brain like a skipping record:

_I_ _want to find everyone._

_I'm going to kill Iggy._

_I want to find my sister._

_I'm going to kill Iggy._

_I want to know where they are._

_I'm going to kill Iggy, I'm going to kill Iggy, I'm going to kill Iggy._

My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a low, dull thud coming from behind me. My head snapped toward the sound and my eyes darted around the area, trying to locate the source. What I saw was Gazzy sprawled out face-first on the ground. He had managed to trip on a hole well hidden underneath plenty of leaves. Without a word, I retraced my steps and walked back toward him, just as Nudge was helping him up.

"Jeesh Gazzy, pay attention. You may just snap off your ankle next time and we definitely don't need that right now; we gotta go find the rest of them-"

"Hey, what's that on your hands?" Total interrupted Nudge's ramblings as he stuck his head out of Fang's backpack and stared at Gazzy's hands.

"What?" questioned Nudge when her attention was diverted to his hands. As she grabbed them and held them out, we all stepped closer to take a better look at them. Nudge stared at the red hand for a few more moments before confusion arrived on her face. "Is that…blood?" she asked quietly to no one in particular. Fang and I both shot a look at Gazzy, scrutinizing him. He didn't _look_ injured; I couldn't see one cut on his body that would cause that much blood to spill.

"There's a trail on the ground," Fang mumbled beside me, and although his voice permeated through my ears, I resisted the urge to glance at him and instead looked for the trail that he had pointed out. It wasn't too hard to find. Most of the fallen leaves and grass blades were coated in the crimson liquid that was on Gazzy's hands. It was a wonder how it escaped our notice.

My chest tightened, and something told me to just turn away and not go any further than where I stood, but of course, my instincts told me differently. Keeping as quiet as possible, we all crept along the bloodied trail, travelling farther away from the roads and deeper into the brush. The sun was sinking slowly, but the treetops cut up the small amount of sunlight like paper-machete, making us look like lost sheep with our heads to the ground. We didn't have to go far to find what we were looking for.

"Hey…there's a hole in that tree," mumbled Nudge after what seemed like ages of us straining our ears for any foreign sound. I looked toward the tree, still on high alert for anything unusual. The hole didn't seem conspicuous at a first glance; it wasn't even bigger than my pointer and index fingers put together. A normal person would have suspected that a woodpecker decided to mark a random tree as its territory and go about its business.

That was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The hole was cleanly made; it wasn't a ragged, uneven circle made by an animal…it was more like a weapon…

The warning to not look on the other side of that tree was completely ignored; my body reacted all of its own accord and made me step forward, to which I witnessed a sight that would undoubtedly haunt my worst nightmares.

"Iggy…," was the only whisper that escaped my mouth.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.

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**Author's Note:** Hola people. It has been a while. ^^ I intended for the next chapter that I released to be one long thing, but then I realized it was a bit _too _long (yes, there is such a thing), so I'm breaking it up into little tiny chapters.

What that means for you is that you get new chapters more often. Yay! XD So keep reading, and keep commenting, and I'll keep writing. Enjoy! ^^


	36. Chapter 34: Demon Call

**Chapter 34: Demon Call**

It was Nudge who was the first out of the group to realize what I was staring at. She let out a scream before slapping both hands over her mouth when her eyes took in what was in front of her.

Gazzy was next. He ran to Iggy's slumped body with his already bloodied hands, yelling his name and telling him to get up. The tears that he had held back for his missing sister were now spilling out without any signs of stopping.

Nudge eventually brought her hands from her mouth and, with slow staggering steps and shaking hands, she made her way over to Iggy and unceremoniously dropped to her knees, sitting in a stupor and unable to utter a word.

I on the other hand was paralyzed; unable to say anything or even twitch. My eyes were completely still; I was seeing it, but at the same time it was as if I was looking right past the spot where he sat.

_No. No, no, no._

Iggy's stained shirt covered in crimson red, the blood that was spattered on his face as if a two year old had thrown paint at someone, and his limp rag-doll body…it was almost too much for me to take in.

Blood…so much blood.

My brain began to pulse; slightly at first, to a point where I didn't even notice its presence over the shock of Iggy. Then it became more of a constant nuisance.

Without warning, the pain increased dramatically, causing the edges of my vision to blur until Iggy's body was replaced with that of a stranger; his face was burnt and disfigured, his mouth hanging open and dripping with the crimson liquid, with a large gaping hole in his chest. I didn't know where I was or what was going on, but I knew that I had caused the person to die. I looked down at my reddened hands, feeling the dried blood crack as I flexed my fingers.

_So much blood…so much…too much…_

"Ember…Ember! Snap out of it!"

The image of the clearly dead man immediately disappeared, and in its place was Fang's pale face in front of mine, with his hands on my shoulders, shaking me and forcefully bringing me back to this dreaded reality. I blinked, trying to refocus my eyes on Fang. He wasn't crying like Nudge or Gazzy, but his eyes were empty. I couldn't look at them.

"Well, look what we have here," called a voice from somewhere above our heads. Our eyes shot upwards, searching for where the voice came from. We didn't have to look too long; the sound came from a small girl sitting on a high branch of the very tree that Iggy was leaning on. She smiled and waved at us cheerfully, as if it was an everyday occurrence to find a bunch of kids mourning over their bloodied friend in a forest. My eyes narrowed, which only made her giggle.

How the hell did she get up there?

"Who are you?" I demanded with my voice on edge and my body ready for anything.

"I'm just a girl," was her simple answer, and she beamed at us again when Nudge and Gazzy moved closer to Fang and I with nothing but wariness written on their faces.

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"Long enough," she said sweetly.

_And how long is long enough? Did she see us land? Did she call 911 for Iggy or something? I highly doubt that…_

"Little girls like you shouldn't be here," said Gazzy, trying to sound tough to hide the fact that he had been bawling his eyes out moments ago.

At this remark, the girl let out a loud laugh that sent unpleasant icy chills down my spine. Without another word, the girl dropped from the tree limb that she was on, and to my displeasure, she landed so gracefully on her feet next to Iggy as if she were landing in a field of cotton. Her smile was still there, but there was something sinister lurking in her eyes.

"Little boys like _you_ shouldn't act so tough. They could end up getting hurt," she crooned. That fake smile was still planted on her face, but just by looking at her, I knew that she was bad news.

_Really _bad news.

I slowly stepped in front of Gazzy; Fang flanked me from behind. "What did you do to Iggy," I said menacingly, knowing that she had something to do with the way he was now, if not the cause of it.

"Oh, you're being big and bold now, aren't you?" she mocked.

"Don't screw with me. What did you do to him? And what did you do with Angel and Melody?"

"Relax. They are perfectly safe…for the moment, anyway. As for him, he isn't dead. Just unconscious. I chose to play nice and not kill him. You should thank me for restraining myself. And did you know that he had such a high regeneration rate? It's incredible." She rambled on as she walked towards his still body. "Oy. Wake up. Your job is done," said the girl as she nudged Iggy with her foot. Gazzy raised his voice in outrage, and I had to hold him back before he charged at the unknown enemy.

She eventually stopped, and her smile widened into something cruel as she stared down at the lifeless body. "Fine then, go ahead and ignore me," she whispered and she instantly grabbed a handful of Iggy's shirt in her hands, lifted him into the air and, as if he wasn't twice her size and weight, she threw his body toward another tree trunk at least 30 feet away.

"Iggy!" cried out Nudge.

My stomach lurched, but seconds before my body could respond, Fang bolted from behind me with his wings outstretched, and was just in time to have Iggy ram into his chest so hard that it made Fang slam into the tree that only moments before was meant for an already beaten up Iggy.

"Aw, you just had to ruin my fun, didn't you?" the little girl asked as she pouted. I shot her a violent look.

"Why you little piece of-" I began, ready to pummel her, but was interrupted from doing so when someone began coughing violently. I looked over to where Fang was, only to see Iggy slowly opening his eyes.

Gazzy yelled Iggy's name as we all ran to his side, temporarily ignoring our present threat. Nudge collapsed on the ground and awkwardly grabbed Iggy around his neck and embraced him into a tight hug while burying her head into his shoulder, causing him to cough up some blood before he spit it out on the ground.

"Nudge. That hurts, get off," mumbled Iggy as he struggled to sit up from his uncomfortable position in-between Fang and Nudge. She unwillingly obliged and Iggy could finally take a small breath, only to have Gazzy cling onto him as well. "Ugh. You guys should have left me here while you had the chance. She only kept me alive as bait."

"Don't be stupid," said Fang simply.

"Yeah, there's no way we would just leave you here," added Nudge, overjoyed with the fact that he was still talking in the first place.

"See? I told you that I didn't kill him. And even though this is a very touching moment, I have stuff to do, so let's wrap this up," said the little girl impatiently. I gave an inward growl and turned to face her.

"Don't," Iggy silently mumbled, but I ignored him and narrowed my eyes at her.

"What do you want? Why did you want to draw us out of hiding?" I asked through clenched teeth, anger rolling off of my shoulders in large waves.

"Oh, you don't know? I thought it was pretty obvious," said the girl nonchalantly. "Actually, I came for _you_ specifically. Jake demands for your presence, although I don't understand why he would want such a disagreeable person like you. As for your friends…well, let's just say they're mainly going to be our playthings."

"You won't even come close to touching them," I replied in a dangerous tone. "And I think I'll decline his very 'kind' invitation, as tempting as it may sound."

"Oh, so you're not going to come quietly." I could hear the expectancy and anticipation in her statement, as if she wanted this exact answer to come from my lips.

"Hmm, let me think," I said as I prepared myself to attack.

_I can take her. She's small, not even bigger than Melody. She may talk a big game, but she is way too overconfident in her abilities. I need to take her down a peg…okay, make that several pegs, and that won't be any harder than tying my shoe._

Those were my initial thoughts.

How easily crushed they were.

Before I could take another breath, she was right in front of me. Her speed was unnatural. Her arms were on either side of me, boxing me into a small perimeter, and I could vaguely make out something shiny out of the corner of my eye.

"You thought that you could actually take me on, one on one, didn't you," she mumbled before giving a dark chuckle as the click of a loaded weapon rang in my ears from behind me. "You obviously have no idea who you're dealing with."

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	37. Chapter 35: Choices

******Chapter 35: Choices**

My breath caught in my throat as I took in what had just happened.

She was so _fast. _I wasn't even able to catch her movements at all, much less arm myself if she had been planning to attack me.

The idea that I could have died without really comprehending what had just occurred frightened me, and I struggled against the sudden oppressive force that had pressed against me in order to take in a breath. My hands trembled without my permission and I could not bring myself to look down at her knowing gaze, for fear my knees would buckle from underneath me.

Who was this girl, this small person who made me shake in my skin so easily? I had probably faced death more times than she ever did in her entire existence, and yet here she was, wrecking havoc and terror in my life. I swallowed hard, my saliva running down my suddenly dry throat as she gave another innocent, childish giggle.

"I think we should try this again. Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way? Think carefully now," she added smoothly.

It vaguely occurred to me that this little person had not drawn any weapons against me, but there was a feeling of something dangerous behind me. I turned my head to look behind me very slowly, unsure of what she would do if I made a move, and was greeted with a sight that filled me with dread.

The two weapons in the she-devil's hands were slim silver harpoon guns that glistened in the lowering sunlight. The one in her right was pointed directly at Iggy's forehead, and I could imagine the painful image of the dangerous item easily cutting through his skull and directly into the chest of Fang, of who he was resting on. The weapon in her left was pointed toward Gazzy, and Nudge sat on the side, her head swiveling from me to the rest of our group, looking completely helpless.

"Time's ticking…," said the girl, and the harpoon aimed at Gazzy inched itself closer to him ever so slowly… At this movement, I noticed Nudge's determination to protect solidify in her eyes and she got ready to spring on the little girl.

"Don't move, Nudge!" I barked suddenly, and she froze, turning her attention to me with shocked bambi eyes. I glanced at Fang and our eyes met each others for a few mere seconds, and it didn't surprise me that there was no real fear in them, but dislike, as if he could clearly see what I was about to do next and didn't like it one bit. Oh well, he would just have to deal with it.

"I'll go with you," I murmured as I turned back to the little girl, who gave me a solemn grin.

"No way!" cried out Nudge and Gazzy simultaneously. Iggy gave a disagreeable grunt, which sounded as if it were on the borderline of anger at having to back out of a fight and relief. Fang said nothing, as usual. But I ignored them all and stared down the little girl with renewed resolve.

"But on one condition," I added, forcing my voice not to falter as she narrowed her eyes at me.

"…Condition?" she asked in a threatening tone, and her eyes shifted to her targets behind me. I didn't follow her gaze, but kept my voice as even as possible.

"You have to swear that you won't hurt any of them."

The little girl stared up at me in utter shock before amusement broke through her facial expression. "You are in absolutely no position to bargain with me," she said after she had quelled the laughter that had attempted to bubble up to her lips.

"That may be true, but I'm sure Jake would not be too pleased with you if you hurt me, and that includes emotionally."

I was in uncharted waters now; I could only hope that Jake wanted me brought in perfect condition, like one of those Barbie dolls that you aren't supposed to take out of the box.

Worst case scenario: he ordered for this pint sized twerp to retrieve me by any means necessary as long as I was alive. I would give that option a 70-80 percent chance…those were not the best odds for me.

Nevertheless, I saw her hesitation before she gave a resigned sigh. "Fine," she said before she retracted her weapons away from my friends just as quickly as she had brought them out. Without another glance at the group behind me, she did an about-face before silently walking ahead.

Figuring that was the best answer that I was going to get, I looked back at the faces that I had grown so fond of; Nudge's tear-stained face, Gazzy and Iggy's almost identical looks of defeat, Total's shock mixed with downright fury, and Fang's stoic expression with those eyes that said it all for him. I took it all in, engrained them in my mind for what might very well be the last time, then turned away from them and began to follow the little girl.

No matter how much I wanted to stay with them, I could think of no way to back out of this and not put them in danger. I felt better knowing that they were relatively safe. Plus, this gave me a chance to find out where Angel and Melody were, if I got to see them at all.

This day just keeps getting better and better.

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	38. Chapter 36: Plans

**Chapter 36: Plans**

"Ember!" came Nudge's alarmed cry.

I turned around out of instinct, just to see what had happened. Instead of seeing Nudge's face, I was greeted with the uncomfortable feeling of something heavy falling on my shoulders, causing me to topple over and do a hard face-plant into the dirt.

I was not able to recover from that; the same heavy object was still on my back, stopping me from getting up and making it hard for me to breath. There were more sounds of things dropping to the ground, some struggling sounds coming from Fang, and Gazzy, Nudge and Total belting out words that I didn't even know was in their vocabulary. The sound of scuffling stopped when three sounds of metal crashed together.

"Put him in a bag. He might squeeze out if you don't," I heard the little girl say, and I was finally able to force my head up just in time to see a wriggling bag being thrown into a cage that a crumpled, barely moving Iggy was occupying. The object on my back got up, but grabbed my shirt collar and forced me to sit up on my knees before I could scramble out of its grasp.

I scanned my surroundings quickly, trying to blink away the dirt that still clung to my eyelashes. The clearing now felt extremely crowded; there must have been no more than 15 Erasers that had appeared at the scene and in front of me sat three cages that didn't seem as if it could hold an adult Labrador retriever. In them sat my friends in pairs; Iggy and Total, Nudge and Gazzy, and Fang. I looked away from them to rest my eyes on the little girl that shot me a triumphant smile as she walked towards me.

"You swore, you fucking swore that you wouldn't hurt them!" I spat, struggling against what I now saw as an ugly Eraser who was enjoying every second of this. As the little girl came closer, he placed one of his hands on my left shoulder blade and tightened his grip while using his other hand to hold my thin wrists behind my back. The little girl stood in front of me, and we were finally leveled so that she could look me straight in the eye without straining her neck.

"And they aren't hurt…yet. They're just caged up like the little freaks that they are," she said innocently. I cursed under my breath and looked toward the ground. The longer I looked at her, the more I wanted to rip out her tongue, and I could hear that 'thing' inside of me cooing in earnest, encouraging me to lose control again. I wasn't going to let that happen.

Not now, anyways.

"What, you have nothing to say? That's a shocker!" The girl giggled once more at my now silent demeanor, but I kept quiet and glared at the dirt beneath me.

"Hey, Maxi-" began the Eraser that was holding me hostage. The girl's giggles came to an abrupt stop, and her full attention went from me to him in an instant.

"Do NOT call me by that name! I don't care where I came from, I am nothing like that woman!" she shrieked, and I could feel the Eraser shudder under her glaring eyes.

I almost felt sympathy for him; being scolded by someone who was two times shorter than him must not feel pleasant for the self-esteem.

"Sorry. Alyssa. What do you want to do with her?" he asked meekly as he tightened his grip on my shoulder, making me double over in pain so that her attention was back to me. Still miffed, the look of childish innocence left her face and she now regarded me with a look of irritation and disgust.

"I can't torture her so put her in a cage and let's get going. I don't want him nagging me about the fact that we're late," she said simply and she turned on her heel and walked away through the trees. Still having a firm grip on both my shoulder and my wrists, the Eraser stood me up and walked me to where the cages were.

"Sucks how she treats you, doesn't it?" I asked, giving a last ditch effort that I knew would not work.

"Shut up," he said angrily, and he roughly opened the cage that Fang was in and tossed me into it, not caring that I had slammed my head into the bars on the way in.

"Ouch," I murmured, rubbing my head and shoulder while getting into a relatively comfortable sitting position. In moments, all of our cages were lifted from the ground onto three separate Home Depot styled trolleys, and we bumped right along the dirt path through the trees in silence.

We eventually reached another opening that was much farther away from the place where we had originally started and in that opening were two huge trucks, the kinds that you would see the police use to escort highly dangerous criminals to a high-state penitentiary.

Oh goody.

The Erasers that were "escorting" us had unceremoniously picked up our cages and tossed us into the back of one of the big black vans as if we were luggage. Our cages tumbled and rolled several times, giving me the pleasure of banging my head against the bars even more before we finally came to a stop with me sprawled on Fang's lap. I sat up slowly, rubbing my head again while glaring at the two Erasers who still stood at the opening, cackling like the disgusting hyenas that they were. I shot them the bird and they snickered once more before slamming the door shut, completely incasing us in semi-darkness. The van soon began to rumble, and I sent up a silent prayer to whoever was up there that we were being taken to where Angel and Melody were.

"Everyone ok?" I called out in a low voice, figuring it was ok to talk after 5 minutes of listening to nothing but the motor running under us.

"We're fine," called Gazzy in a hoarse voice, and I heard Total mutter something under his breath along the lines of "douche bags stuffing him in a bag".

God, I love that dog.

"Ember?" Iggy called out.

"Iggy?" I replied, my concern returning now that my brain had stopped drumming against my skull.

"I'm really sorry. I tried, I really did, but that girl is not normal, and there were two others with the exact same voice as her, and I couldn't fend her off when she had that friggin' harpoon gun with her, and-"

"Iggy! Relax! You're starting to sound like me!" jumped in Nudge. I chuckled because that's exactly what I had been thinking.

"It's okay, really. I'll kill you later after we save those two and get out of this, so no worries," I replied, trying to calm him down. It worked for the most part; Iggy noted my sarcasm and smiled in my direction, grateful to know that I didn't have any ill intentions toward him.

"So what's the game plan?" asked Gazzy.

"How about the moment they let us out, because you know someone will be stupid enough to, we burst out and go on a rampage?" suggested Nudge.

"I still have some hidden bombs in my pocket. They're small, but effective enough for a distraction," said Gazzy, thinking out loud while scratching his head and wincing at the bump that he had grazed.

"I say we lay low and just wait until the best opportunity; it would be wise to make our move _after _we know the whereabouts of Melody and Angel and if they are safe," I recommended.

"But…isn't that almost like giving up…?" Nudge asked, sounding almost shocked that I would even suggest such a thing. I smirked; I love how surrendering was never even once considered an option.

"No, not giving up. We're being smart and waiting for the right time to strike so that we can properly kick their asses." Gazzy pouted, but I guess the idea of kicking butt was too much of an irresistible plan to pass up because they all grudgingly agreed that it was the best choice that we had going for us at the moment.

Now all we had to do was play the waiting game. I bit the inside of my cheek in silent thought. By the way the Erasers were acting now and the plan they had used to capture us, I highly doubted that they would give us even the smallest opening, in case we did use it to escape. And even if we did have that chance, they would still have Melody and Angel as their captives; we would have no choice but to stay because there was no option of us leaving them behind.

On top of that, I didn't know how much freedom I would have. I mean, even though Jake, the conniving bastard, was obviously obsessed with me, he wasn't an idiot. I doubted that he would give me "special treatment" just because he wanted to keep me all to himself.

_He really couldn't be that stupid…_ I began to think, before a hand shot out from behind me, grabbed my forehead and pulled me back in one swift motion. My head landed on Fang's shoulder and all too quickly, I could feel his cheek resting on the top of my hair.

"Relax. They'll be fine," he mumbled. I only managed to nod as I willed my accelerating heart to stop going off the charts.

_I wasn't exactly thinking about them… _was my initial thought before I realized that my body had leaned into Fang without my permission. Instead of fighting the uncalled action, I gave in while making myself excuses for doing so.

_This cage is too small for denying him his urge to hold me, and there's no reason to make a scene in front of everyone, so I'll just bear with it for a little while…_

Maybe I should move into Denial Town. I'm sure they have room for one more.

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	39. Chapter 37: The Procession

**Chapter 37: The Procession  
**

Despite the bumpy ride to where ever we were headed and the constant murmurs of the rest of the gang, it was incredibly comfortable leaning into Fang's shoulder that I ended up dozing off. I didn't get far though. I was in limbo between a state of awareness and blissful slumber when something in the back of my mind told me that we had stopped moving. My eyes slowly opened and I pushed myself away from Fang, who willingly let me go just in case he needed his hands free. The others were alert as well; I could see them all counting the seconds as we heard movement outside of the van.

"Come up with anything other than playing it safe?" Iggy chanced to murmur.

"Nope," was my quick reply.

Gazzy frowned. "That's so boring."

The van doors flew open and we were immediately bathed in moonlight. I scowled at the figure that jumped in and almost skipped to my cage.

"Having fun?" asked Alyssa.

"Oh, most definitely. I mean, I've been trapped in a cage before, but this one just tops it," I replied. She frowned at me; obviously she didn't like my sarcasm.

"Let me give you a word of advice," she said as she slowly squatted down on her heels in front of me, as if she was explaining to a small child that it was doing something wrong. "You may think you're being cute and funny, but keep in mind…the moment that Jake is finished with you, and that should be fairly quickly…you are _mine._" She emphasized this last word, her tone and the spark in her eyes taking on something cynical in its midst.

A shiver through my spine began to make itself known, but I held it back. She seemed to soak up fear from her adversaries, and I refused to give her the satisfaction of letting her revile in mine as well. I let my face take in a look of shock and a small amount of pity as I carefully thought out my next lines to dish out to her.

"Oh…well, this is awkward…I thought you knew…" I said, astonished. All eyes were on me, curious to see where I was going with this.

"Know what?" asked Alyssa as she rolled her eyes, probably scoffing at the idea that I would know something that she didn't. I looked at her apologetically with a small wry smile on my face.

"I'm so sorry but…I don't like girls in _that _way…"

It was Iggy and Gazzy who had first began to snicker and now, after holding back the escaping air from behind their hands, they released it in a loud burst, which was soon drowned out by the joining of everyone's laughter.

All except the fiery creature standing in front of me.

Her eyes were now definitely sparking, and she could have been a miniature Medusa if her milk-chocolate like tendrils of hair stood on end like real snakes.

"You little piece of-"

"Alyssa!" called a voice from the opening of the truck. Alyssa turned toward the sound, snarling as she did so in outrage to face an Eraser who seemed like he would rather be anywhere but there.

"What?" she demanded, her voice bordering on something like a screech. The Eraser stiffened, then retained a rigid composure, as if he was a high ranking general reporting some news to another.

"He knows you're here, and he's getting restless."

"He's a big boy, he can wait a little-"

"He wants to see them _now_." I couldn't see her face, but I could tell by the small veins that were popping up in the wrists of her tightly closed fists that she didn't take kindly to people bossing her around. Nor did she seem to like the fact that her authority was uprooted right in front of her captives.

Iggy and Gazzy still snickered behind their hands at the unfolding scene. I shot them a look of warning. Play time was over the moment that I had uttered the joke; Alyssa had gotten serious and I didn't want anyone to lose their lives right there and then. Gazzy took the hint and settled down with much difficulty. Iggy seemed to sense the change in atmosphere faster than Gazzy and managed to silence himself. Nudge also understood and sat quietly in her cage, while Total wriggled in his bag.

Alyssa finally turned toward us, her blood lust-filled eyes grazing over everyone, but of course finally resting on me. This girl obviously had it out for me, and I tried not to break eye contact with her and keep my heart from stopping out of sheer terror. It was as if she was trying to bore not just one hole, but multiple holes through my skull at the same time. I just couldn't understand _why_. She could easily take me down with her skills, so what was with the animosity? Maybe she just didn't like the idea of being the delivery woman...who knows. I tried not to think about it too much and focused on keeping the defiance pasted on my face.

_First one to look away loses..._ I thought to myself. It was an intense five seconds, but I knew that I had claimed victory when she clenched her small fists one last time before inhaling once and turning to look back at the Eraser. I smirked as my heart resumed its normal pace. _Ember 1, Alyssa 0. Sweet._

"Take them out of the cages. I want them blindfolded, their hands tied and at least 3 men on each of their asses at all times until we get there. I want there to be absolutely no mistakes. Do I make myself clear?" demanded Alyssa. Her voice, so childlike with a hint of innocence, sounded odd and unusual taking on a tone of a dictator. It was just as scary to see her get her way.

"Crystal," responded the Eraser before he turned around and began barking orders to the lingering Erasers and Flyboys.

"And don't even think about escaping," stated Alyssa as she returned her attention back to us. "If I see any of you so much as twitch towards what you believe to be a potential escape route, I will kill you were you stand." It was then that I realized that she was staring directly at me while she said these last words as if it wasn't a threat to us as a group, but a promise to me as an individual.

Maybe because I was the only one that she considered as a threat.

I gave her a cordial smile, just to tic her off. "Wouldn't dream of it."

O::O::O::O::O::O

"Is this really necessary? I mean, I'm _already_ blind, in case you didn't realize," complained Iggy from somewhere behind me as we trudged along where ever the hell we were.

I scoffed. I still found it a little over the top that they had toppled our cages over like garbage cans to get us out and roughly tied our hands behind our backs, even though we clearly weren't struggling.

Well, unless you count Gazzy biting one of them on their hands, Nudge kicking another in the shins and Total yelling a string of profanities as he wriggled around in his bag.

"To them, this is completely essential. Someone probably didn't do their research properly, so they aren't exactly sure what kind of powers you're harboring, Iggy. Or maybe they think we're sadistic like them and put something in your eyes to make you see. Either way, they aren't taking any chances. Isn't that right, Alyssa?"

I knew that Iggy was somewhere behind me from the direction that his voice came from, so I said this loud enough that I knew Iggy and Alyssa could hear, mainly because I couldn't pinpoint where either of them were. Even with my uncanny sense of direction and my sensitive ears, the walls of this humongous place was throwing me off. _Damn, if this is what Iggy goes through, then it must suck big time, _I thought as I waited patiently for Alyssa to respond. I knew she would. She was one of those people that couldn't keep her mouth shut once she was addressed in any other way other than the respect and fear that she demanded.

Of course, she didn't disappoint. Moments later, I picked up the sound of her swift, light, dainty footsteps against what I presumed to be some sort of tile floor. It actually sounded like she was skipping towards me in an almost carefree, rhythmic way. A mental reminder of her speed in the forest flashed through my mind, and I immediately connected that to the speed that she was walking to now. _Does she always walk that fast? Or maybe I should say skipping...just like the child that she is. But why can I hear her steps now? Is it the echoes of this place, or has the loss of my eyes heightened my hearing? Interesting...I must remember this sound for later..._

But now that I could actually hear her as she made her way back to me, I began to grow impatient. We were still walking forward, so why hadn't she reached me yet? Or the better question: why was she so far ahead in the first place? _Maybe she was afraid that I would kick her in the ass or something. _By the time that she had actually reached me, I was fighting back a smirk.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Alyssa as she took a spot next to me and kept up with my pace; two of her footsteps for one of mine. I held back a chuckle.

"Nothing, just having some funny thoughts," I replied.

"There should be nothing funny in this situation." I could hear the anger seeping through her child like voice. She didn't like the fact that I wasn't cowering in fear of her.

"Well obviously we have completely different views on what's funny, because I think this whole blindfold-handcuff setup you got going on here is freaking hilarious. If we wanted to leave, we would have left already." Alyssa's footsteps came to a stop and my cuffed hands were abruptly yanked by what sounded like chains, which also brought me to a halt. "Oh, you have us chained as well! So medieval. I must applaud you for your originality when I get the use of my hands back." I heard more clinking of chains behind me as well, along with the ceasing of footsteps which I presumed were the rest of the flock. _So they're keeping us equidistant from each other...they really know how to destroy any type of opportunities._

She walked in front of me with slow, deliberate steps, and I could hear the calm before the flash flood in them. "You think you're so smart, don't you."

"Eh, I'm pretty average, I guess."

"...That was a rhetorical question."

"Oh, it was? My bad. Guess I'm not that smart after all," I replied, shrugging. There was silence soon after, and I immediately began to question whether I had gone too far with my "pissing Alyssa off" antics. _Maybe she'll actually take out that harpoon of hers and beat me silly with it... _But she resumed talking, letting out no more than a hiss so that only I could hear her malicious tone.

"You may talk a big game, but keep in mind that as of right now, I have the advantage here. So it would be wise of you to not tick me off. Not unless you want my hand to "accidentally" slip and stab each and every one of your friends right through their heads with this knife." Alyssa grabbed my shirt collar and yanked my face down, placing the cool metal of the weapon in question to my cheek and caressing it across my skin. "Understand?"

The expression on my face neither changed to a scowl nor to worry; my small smirk remained prominent on my lips. I could feel her insatiable urge to dig the knife right through my flesh, to decimate my face and torture my body in the most brutal way imaginable. But she couldn't; her fingers trembled because she was _so close_, and yet Jake's demands were absolute, unquestionable, and ones that should not be disobeyed. That was why my smirk stayed; I still had the upper hand. No matter what she said, she couldn't hurt me, and she probably knew that I would put myself in her path if she even attempted to hurt the others.

"Absolutely," was my answer, and her sharp exhale of breath sounded so disgusted with my complacent tone that she released my shirt collar and turn away. Her feet hit the ground with unnecessary force as she walked away, making it sound as if she had turned into a little girl throwing a tantrum. I straightened up, cracking my back along the way. _Well, she did have a weapon, but it wasn't the harpoon, thank goodness..._

"Leo!" called back Alyssa in my direction. She obviously wasn't talking to me, so I assumed she was addressing the Eraser that was beside me. "Watch her carefully."

"Yes ma'am," was the reply, and I recognized the voice to belong to that Eraser with the general-like air to him. It was only then that my expression turned sour.

_Damn it all, why did I have to get stuck with him as my watchdog?_

_.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^._

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**Author's Note:** Hey everyone! Sorry for the kind of late update, but 'tis the season for Christmas! (Along with college applications and exams and presents, etc...). But anyway, just to let you know that this is NOT where I wanted to end this chapter, but when I saw how long it was already, I said, "...Yeah, I'm done". So you're getting this scene (that was supposed to be one major chapter) in installments (3 mini chapters...if you want to consider this mini...). Consider this your first installment.

But on the plus side, you get more chapters to read. (Aren't you lucky!) :3 So consider this your Christmas gift from me and enjoy your installment chapters!

P.S. The next one should be coming before New Years. Gotta start off your new year with an epic chapter. ^^

P.P.S. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! Go stuff your faces and get fat! :D


	40. Chapter 38: Give A Little, Take A Lot

**Chapter 38: Give A Little, Take A Lot**

This was bothersome.

No, that isn't the right word.

This was more…irritating.

Like that constant muscle spasm that you know you can't stop.

Or maybe that thing in your eye that you can't get out, not unless you wanted to take out your eyeball in the process.

Yes, irritating was the right word. Irritating because the sound of our footsteps was almost maddening. I couldn't get myself to tune out the endless tip-taps of our shoes on the floor, going on and on and on...

We shouldn't even _be _here; we should be smuggling our way into the cargo of another ship by now, heading back to the U.S and far away from this place, these problems, these people…

I sighed to myself. There was no point in whining and wishing for things that couldn't happen with just the click of my heels. If I wanted us to get out of here alive, I had to make it happen myself. But I had to come up with a good plan. A really good plan.

_Maybe we could snap out our wings really quick and make a break for it…no, that wouldn't work. They could easily catch us just by yanking us down. Plus we're all blinded and cuffed, so trying to kick our way free is out of the question as well-_

"Hey! Can we stop walking? I got to go to the bathroom…" stated Gazzy.

"And I'm starving! Can I get some noms? Like, a baked potato or something?" whined Nudge.

I bit my lip to keep from grinning. I had to focus, and their comments weren't helping me. _If there was only some way that I could talk to them without getting my ass kicked…wait a second. Maybe I can…_

My mind finally started to become productive as I replayed my first encounter with Melody to try to get a grasp of how I was actually able to hear her thoughts, but it was quite difficult. Although we had practiced with the power during our time at our hideout and I had succeeded in entering her mind a few times, I still had no concept of what I was doing.

However, Melody was a different matter altogether.

She had claimed to be just as oblivious as I was in knowing how to master the technique, but she continually flaunted her ability during our training sessions together, in which she was my instructor. It was clear to me that she enjoyed having the upper hand at _something_, which was evident in her harsh teaching methods. But no matter how hard I practiced, I still couldn't manage to get the basics down.

I furrowed my brow with a sense of determination. _Well I'll be damned if I don't get it this time when I really need it. _I breathed in deep, forcing myself to loosen up and concentrate. _Ok, remember what she told you. Visualize the direction of your target, detach yourself from your body, take a deep breath and plunge into them…better easier said than done… _I tried to zero in on a point behind me in hopes of entering the minds of one of the flock.

_Seriously, how does one even go about detaching themselves from their own body? With a chainsaw? No, I have to concentrate. If Melody can do it on command then so can I. _

I took another breath and let it out slowly. _Think of__ yourself as a ball of air, almost nonexistent…_ And slowly but surely, I felt myself become light, almost as if I were floating. _Okay…I guess I'm doing it…now I just have to...plunge._

_Great. _

_Well, here goes nothing I guess._

I imagined myself jumping high off of a platform and going into a swan dive as I was brought back down to earth. And I knew for a fact that I had succeeded in separating "myself" because I could feel the split as I left behind my walking body. However, I still couldn't see anything, so I waited patiently for some indication that I was listening to someone's thoughts as I had with Melody.

After a few seconds, I began to get antsy. The fact that I didn't hear a single murmur or still couldn't see anything concerned me greatly. Moments later, there was a slight tugging coming from behind me, like a rubber band being pulled tighter and tighter from two different directions. I tried resisting, only to be snapped back in the direction of the strong pull, where I was immediately met with whispering voices that sounded very familiar. It took me a few moments, but I finally realized that I had entered the confines of my own mind yet again, disoriented, queasy and with a headache that seemed to be keeping tempo to the beat of my racing heart. There was only a small part of my brain that was aware of my body slowly tipping forward, but my mind was still too jumbled to demand that my limbs act on it, so I waited for the inevitable feel of the hard floor slamming against my face.

It never came. I waited and waited for the pain to come, and there was some pain...just not in the direction that I was expecting. My body came to a sharp halt as I felt someone's strong arm encircle my waist and hold me steady. Bile slowly rose upwards to my throat, threatening to escape from my mouth, but I was able to hold it back.

"Aw Leo, did she trip? You should have let her fall on her face. Then she could gravel on the ground like the bitch that she is," called back Alyssa.

I heard the snickers coming from the sidelines, which confirmed my earlier thought of this whole charade being just for the amusement of the many enemies that were lined up against the wall as they watched the humiliation of us, their prey, as if we were the main attraction in a New York day parade.

"Leo, if she won't stand up to walk, just drag her. It doesn't really matter to me."

There were two small tugs from my cuffed hands, which caught me by surprise. I was expecting more along the lines of "yanking-the-arms-out-of-the-socket" type of deal mixed with maniacal laughter, not gentle helping hands.

I straightened up slowly, trying to regain my bearings. As soon as I was stable on my feet, the arm encircling me dropped and prodded my back to continue to walk. I furrowed my brow, glaring into my blindfold while contemplating on whether or not to obey the command, but decided to choose the smart decision and follow orders so as not to draw any more attention to myself...well, for now at least. I began to walk without so much as a thanks in the direction of my "savior".

_Damn. Why do only a handful of them have to show signs of kindness or compassion? Can't they all just be the same so that I can hate them all?_ I wondered. _Hopefully it was just a one time thing and it won't happen again. I don't want any feelings of remorse or sympathy to get in the way if I have to fight or kill him._

And with that, I pushed Leo's benevolent act out of my mind so that I could concentrate once more and try my luck again with mind hopping. This time, I went for launching my astral body at my desired direction instead of diving, and with this concept I found myself successful in inhabiting the mind of the Eraser behind me.

At first, I wasn't too sure that I was inside his mind at all. It was eerily quiet, and the only confirmation that told me that I had made it werethe small wisps of voices fluttering through my ears. There were too many overlapping one another to truly comprehend what they were saying, but they reminded me of the many incoherent thoughts that zipped through my mind on a daily basis, all of them clamoring to become my main thought for all of 5 seconds.

Just as I was about to return to the safe haven of my own body, the whispers abruptly disappeared, only to be replaced by a single booming voice, which must have belonged to the Eraser. I covered my ears from shock and from the immense pressure on my ear drums, willing myself not to scream in fear of being heard, but the voice was still able to penetrate my measly defense.

"_I CAN'T WAIT TO RIP APART THESE FREAKS ESPECIALLY THAT ONE IN BLACK THINKS HE'S SO COOL ACTING ALL CALM AND COLLECTED WELL LET'S SEE HOW COOL HE IS WHEN I TEAR OFF THOSE WINGS OF HIS NICE AND SLOW I WANT TO SEE HIM SQUIRM AND BEG FOR MERCY BEFORE I CRUSH HIS SKULL IN-" _The thought continued in a never ending stream of consciousness, ignoring any type of breathers or spaces in-between one thought to another, almost like an out of control train speeding down the tracks. I could no longer stand any more of the noise or his callous thoughts and that elastic feeling had returned, feeling taut and ready to snap at any moment, so I scurried back to my own quiet mind.

_Filthy, vulgar, idiotic moron. I'll kill him before he even lays a hand on Fang... _I seethed. I had to force myself to calm down and deny the urge to turn around to shoot venomous words at the Eraser. After flexing my fingers to release some of the rage, I noticed that upon leaving my body behind, it had gone on auto drive and continued walking with the same pace that I had left it. With this knowledge in hand, I counted 35 steps, giving myself ample amount of time to recuperate my exhausted mind, and continued once more with my mind hopping experiment.

Each time became more and more easier than the last and I learned valuable information with each new round; the elastic feeling was not about distance, but my own endurance to last outside of my body before I had to return and the booming voices were indeed the main thoughts that were occupying the minds of the Erasers at that moment. When occupying ones mind, you can see what they see, so I assumed that if anything was said within someone's mind, they would hear it as well.

After my latest trip, it dawned on me that it wouldn't be a good idea to go into the minds of the Flock members. I had a feeling that Nudge and Gazzy would freak out and blow my cover, Total wouldn't be able to do anything, and Fang...well, I didn't really want to hear his thoughts. _But he's my best bet so I might as well suck it up and do it._

I inhaled quietly while counting to 40, but was interrupted by another small tug from my restrictive chains and the voice of someone to the right of me. "I highly suggest that you stop what you're doing now before I have to make you," said Leo quietly, so much so that I wasn't quite sure that he had said anything at all. My mind went blank for half a second.

_Was he talking to me or someone else? But if he was talking to someone else, he wouldn't need to whisper... _I now focused on the rest of my surroundings only to realize that the hall had become more noisy with the arrival of even more boisterous Erasers crowding around to see their prey. There were many yells for us to die and evil laughter bouncing against the walls to make me feel almost claustrophobic. But there was still not enough noise to conceal the fact that Leo had whispered something to me. _Even if no one heard, they still have eyes. Why isn't anyone calling him out on it? Could he really have been talking to another Eraser nearby or am I just finally cracking under the stress? Or maybe he didn't move his lips at all..._

I pondered this last thought slowly, wondering if it could really be done without the need of a skill equal to that of a ventriloquist and how I would go about pulling it off in a situation like this, where with one slip up, I could end up torn apart by the many jaws and claws of the surrounding enemies. Nonetheless, I more or less threw caution to the wind and decided to try it anyway, figuring that if he wasn't talking to me then the most that I would receive as punishment was maybe a hard tug along with a menacing snarl as a warning.

Making a small gap between my lips as if I was letting out a sigh, I uttered the safest thing that I could think of in that moment. "What?" I questioned, my voice barely carrying to my own ears much less to anyone else. I realized then that it wasn't such a difficult task to speak without moving your lips; it all had to do with the tongue's movements. While thinking this, I had almost missed Leo's reply.

"You heard me. If you didn't you would've stayed quiet," he said with that same whisper, filled with a calm and quiet demeanor in his tone. I immediately pegged him as one of the few here that actually preferred to stay in the background and watch everyone than to act violent.

Those were always the most dangerous ones.

And the most annoying to handle.

_Damn, he got me there. Definitely a smart cookie. _I tried once more for the innocent facade, just to hear how confident he was in his accusation. "Um...if you can't already tell, I haven't been able to do anything other than be led around on a chain and walk. There's been no chance for me to make a move...well, not yet at least. So I have no idea of what you're accusing me of." I spoke slowly as a reminder to myself to not use my lips too much to form the words that I was saying

"Oh, is that right? Well, regardless of whether or not you can fathom what I am talking about, if you do it again, I am afraid that I'll have to stop you," replied Leo, completely unfazed by my plea of innocence. We had both fallen silent, his calm threat looming between us, and although we were surrounded by a plethora of noisy, brutish Erasers who were all clamoring over each other like monkeys trying to get a good look at us, I was able to tune out everything, including the steady beats of my heart; it was only his voice that I wanted to concentrate on. But in the elongated cease of noise between the two of us, a nagging curiosity had gotten the best of me.

"Why are you so positive that I've done something wrong? I mean, there are five of us that you've taken prisoner. What makes me so different from the rest?" I asked, hoping he would answer. He didn't disappoint.

"There were plenty of signs that pointed to you."

"What kind of signs, if I may ask?" I questioned in a genuine tone of curiousness. _What did I do that gave me away, and how long did he know about it?_

A few seconds passed without a response from him, so I had assumed that I wouldn't get an answer from him so easily. It took about 15 steps more, while I was mulling over my methods that I had assumed had gone undetected, before I finally received what I was hoping for.

"Your body slumped a few times, but just a little bit. At first, I took no notice of this; you were probably exhausted or giving up to what you felt was the inevitable." I sensed a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth just by listening to his almost silent speech. "But then I realized that there was a pattern. True, it wasn't a systematic one because there was always a time lapse that wasn't a constant duration from the time when your body slumped to when you stood erect again, but there was a pattern nonetheless." I remained expressionless throughout his explanation, letting the information sink in. Not many people would notice that - in fact, I didn't believe anyone else in this room noticed these slip ups of mine – and for that, I had to admit that I did gain a small bit of admiration for him.

Still didn't change anything.

"And you immediately thought to accuse me because...?"

"You were the only one showing signs of being mischievous. Do you honestly expect not to hear some type of loud comment or ruckus of some sort from the others behind us if they noticed any of their captives doing something out of the ordinary? Keep in mind, they never fail to torment their play things in order to mentally wear them down enough to where the captured knows in the backs of their minds that they cannot win, but still put up a useless fight for survival. That is why I singled you out."

_Observant AND has excellent deductive skills. It's no wonder Alyssa favors him to do her dirty work. And it's a good thing that I decided against going into his mind. He may not have been able to sense me right away, but I would have been caught a lot sooner._

This time I couldn't help myself; a rueful smirk escaped from underneath my lips. I always liked a challenge, and challenges of the mind were no exception. "You know it's not wise to tell your prisoners exactly how you figured them out. I may be innocent, but in the future it would be to your benefit not to reveal anything. They'll make sure not to make the same mistake twice."

"Whoops. Did I let something slip? Well, what do I know? I'm just a simple guard," replied Leo in a tone that clearly indicated that he was no simpleton, not by a long shot.

I fell once more into a contemplative silence, soaking in all of the information that I had gleaned from that last bit of our conversation. It was obvious that Leo was not stupid. He would not have said something that made him sound as if he was a gossiping worthless guard on duty. Hell, I doubted even a loose-mouthed guard would say something like that to their prisoner, something that sounded so mutinous no matter how you spun it.

_Does this mean that he may be a potential ally? _I began to question. _But he must know that I'm not stupid either. There's no way that I can just blindly trust him just from some whispered conversation. No, it would definitely not be wise to count on him at all. Best to just stick to my original idea of possibly having to duke it out with him later on._

_But what are his motives? Obviously he doesn't take this "job" seriously like the rest of these monsters do, and yet he is highly regarded as more than enough to babysit me. So why is he here? What did he do to be considered so competent above the rest? _Despite my dismissal of how to deal with him when the time came, my curiosity raged inside my head. I didn't need to know his life story – I didn't care and there was absolutely no way that I would get the opportunity to ask – but I at least wanted to know _something_!

"Can I ask you another question?" I murmured innocently.

"You just did. But I'm afraid time has run out for anymore ideal chitchat."

The corners of my lips turned down into a small frown. _Run out? _I wondered, only to come to an abrupt halt, thus bringing me back to the reality at hand. I had almost forgotten that I was blindfolded and walking down a long corridor.

"You're late, Alyssa. He's not very happy," said a quiet, timid voice, one in which even I had to strain my ears in order to make out exactly what she was saying.

"I don't care. Just shut up and open the doors," came the harsh reply of Alyssa in that ferocious, demanding tone of hers that completely dwarfed the others' with her authority. It was only then, when the creak of doors that were slowly being opened filled my ears, that I realized that the two voices sounded like a duplicate of one another in voice pitch, so much so that it could have been one person speaking.

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**Author's note: **Oh wow, that was a really long hiatus. Longer than I expected it to be. *looks back at previous chapter* Haha, I love how I said that the next chapter would come out before New Years. Well, I guess New Years hasn't happened yet. XD At least the chapter is long (hahaha, sorry I couldn't shorten it).

Anyway, I really did need that break. If I didn't have it, I would have been bored with the story and may have actually stopped writing it all together (what a shame! T.T). But school is out and although I have a packed summer, I should be able to start pushing out some chapters again.

And to think, I'm not even half way done with this story. Enjoy!


	41. Chapter 39: A Family Reunion

**Chapter 39: A Family Reunion**

The closing of the doors made a resounding bang, creating echoes overhead in what must have been a significantly taller area than the hallway that we were just in. I plodded along into the spacious room feeling overly cautious about the sudden silence, until I was brought to a halt by Leo's gentle tugging. The idea of me really getting special treatment seemed like a promising one, but the booming voice of Jake distracted my thoughts.

"There you are. I was just wondering if I had to get the whole group to go fetch you," stated Jake, and I wasn't sure if I was the only one who noticed it, but there was definitely more than an ounce of displeasure that was trying to blend in to his playful tone.

"Sorry for the wait. I just couldn't resist taking the long way around," I heard Alyssa say from somewhere behind me. Her voice seemed stripped of her arrogant, threatening confidence, almost like a frightened little kid still trying to act tough. I vaguely wondered about the look on his face and if it was scary enough to make me back down as much as Alyssa did.

_It's probably not the face that's scary. There's probably pain that comes later on. And she must know the price for making him angry..._

"It's fine. You're here now, and that's what matters," he replied smoothly, trying to conceal his anger. "And please take off those blindfolds. It's unsightly." Our blindfolds were removed immediately to reveal that we were presently being held in a large metallic warehouse with a very high ceiling.

I looked more closely at my surroundings to get a feel for the place and spot anything that might be an advantage for us. There was a long, winding staircase to the left of me that led to a single rather large metal door. That didn't look too promising, so I searched for more. The only other door was the one that we had just entered the room from.

_Ok, no dice on the doors. Maybe there are window exits._

I was quickly disappointed. One glance up showed that the entire warehouse was lined with what seemed like extravagant ornamental windows that were bolted over with metal slates, blocking the outside world completely. The place was still well lit, and it was only then that I took notice of the fancy chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, shining with radiant beams of light and bouncing their rays off of what I could only assume were real diamonds.

Perching right under the very first chandelier was Jake dressed to the nines in a classic white tuxedo coat and matching pants with a red tie, easily encompassing his princely status and power in his attire. He was perched on a pearl white love seat with chocolate colored armchairs on either side, and in front of him sat a very expensive looking oak coffee table. The whole setup seemed so bewildering that I didn't know whether or not I was being held prisoner or being considered as a guest.

In handcuffs.

Yeah, that's really traditional.

_This guy is really over the top,_ I thought to myself with chagrin.

"Finally, they took off this damn blindfold! Oh wait, there's just one problem...I still can't see a thing! Well imagine that, a blind person who can't see," Iggy stated before mumbling something about idiots.

Glancing out of the corners of my eyes, I picked up on the fact that we were all standing in a line formation; Fang and Gazzy were on my left, and Nudge and Iggy were on my right. But even though Nudge and Fang were the closest to me, we were still more than an arm's length away from each other; there was no way that I could communicate with them without getting caught. And I definitely wasn't going to use my mind abilities to talk to them. I couldn't afford to seem like an empty shell in front of Jake. He might realize that I was up to something and that was the last thing that I wanted to happen.

"Welcome everyone. I'm sorry if I've caused you any inconvenience, but I figured it was time to stop playing hide-and-seek," he stated as he got up from his comfortable seat and made his way towards us.

"Cut the crap. You don't give a flying fart in space about our 'convenience'. You only want Ember, but you know you can't take her without dealing with us first," retorted Nudge.

"Then again, you didn't expect us all to survive, did you?" challenged Iggy. I looked toward Jake to see if he was caught off guard by this question, but he merely shrugged his shoulders and grinned. Iggy didn't even wait for him to reply with something smart. "That's why you sent so many of your dogs to come and fetch us. So that they could get rid of some of us and do your dirty work."

I mentally cursed at myself. How did I not notice that obvious fact? There were so many...no, too many enemies to even count that had surrounded us, and even more of them in the woods when we somehow managed to escape. It was completely unnecessary for there to be so many of them just to simply capture a small rag-tag group like us. Why did it never occur to me that he may have wanted some of us to die?

Iggy let slip another rather nasty comment, and the Eraser escorting Iggy lost his cool, grabbing him by the roots of his thick head of hair and yanking his skull back. "I dare you to say something again, and I swear those will be the last words you ever speak," growled the Eraser as Iggy struggled in his grasp.

"Now now," began Jake calmly. "Let's not have any violence. We're just here to have a friendly little chat." Although his voice was cool, he stared down the Eraser with eyes rivaling a dictator, eyes that said "know your place". The Eraser, flinching under his stern gaze, released his grip on Iggy and donned his mask of relative indifference once more. I gazed at Jake, wondering whether or not he had some kind of bi-polar disorder.

_One minute he sends an army of Erasers and Flyboys to kill us off, the next he is restraining his goons from even hurting us. What is he planning to do?_

"That's right, obey your master like the sad little mutt that you are," Iggy added.

"Cool it, Ig," Fang interjected, beating me to the punch. It was clear that Iggy was frustrated that we were getting nowhere, but him antagonizing our "gracious hosts" was not helping the situation at all.

Jake suddenly swiveled on the heels of his feet to face Fang, his malevolent thoughts that he had tucked away inside of his head becoming more and more apparent on his face as he grinned and walked towards him. "Oh, so the big man finally talks! C'mon, what else do you have to say?" Jake taunted. There was no answer to his question. "Tell you what. I'll make a deal with you. You say what's on your mind right now, and I'll release you and your little friends. I'll keep Ember and Melody of course, but I'll throw in that blonde brat that you came here for. Sound good, right?"

Fang didn't say a word.

"What's the matter? Isn't that a great deal? You and your little friends get to keep the livelihood that you once had, and I won't come chasing after you anymore! Don't you want that again?"

Again, Fang kept silent and resorted to staring straight into Jake's face with a look that seemed to be somewhere between of lack of interest and exasperation, even though he was a head shorter and less brawnier than his adversary. I had to give it to the kid; he was definitely one tough cookie to crack. My money was still on Fang, though.

I watched as Jake's smile faltered a little bit before noticing his fingers curling into a fist. I could already see where this was going, and it wouldn't be pretty. "I see you're not pleased with my deal. I thought I was being pretty generous," he stated calmly.

"Hey," I mumbled.

"In fact, it seems you're looking down on me, even though you're the one who is in a jam."

"Stop it."

"Well, you've made me quite angry. So it looks like I'll have to release my anger by making it so that you can't make that face again."

"I said enough!" Jake broke off eye contact with Fang and finally turned his attention to me. "You're really pissing me off. Quit fooling around and just tell us why you even captured us when you obviously want us dead." Leo tightened his grip on my restraints to keep me in check, but I wondered who would actually win if I _really_ wanted to break away from his hold.

Jake regained his composure, seeming to remember that his true motive was not to pummel Fang into the ground, and made his way to stand in front of me. He smiled again, but his features were softer and gentler. I could still see that he was planning something that was far from nice.

My grimace deepened on my face, but before Jake could spew out a word from that mouth of his, the door at the top of the staircase slowly creaked open. Behind it was a girl just a little taller than me with tawny colored shoulder length hair. She shuffled in through the doorway with her arms outstretched towards the ceiling and her mouth as wide as an opening of a dark cave as she yawned. She took no precaution to hide her wings like the Flock and I were used to - in fact, it almost seemed that she had grown accustomed to letting them freely hang out in the open.

"Can't a girl get some sleep without having to hear _some_ type of commotion going on?" she drawled as she rub the sleep dust from her eyes. It was only moments later that she actually took a look at what was going on. "Hold the phone...well well, this is definitely a surprise," she said, her tone switching gears and taking one of interest.

"No way..." I heard Nudge whisper. I looked over in her direction and saw not only Nudge, but Gazzy and Iggy's faces stricken with a plethora of emotions, none of them being pleasant. Glancing over at Fang, I saw the same look.

Surprise.

Fear.

Anguish.

Anger.

_What's going on? _I wondered as I took another look at the new girl.

"Is...is that...Max?" asked Gazzy, his voice trembling with disbelief.

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**Author's Note**: WHAT? ANOTHER CHAPTER? *dies*

Yes folks, there is indeed a new chapter, and new chapters shall continue to pop up on this site. When exactly, I have no clue (I've given up on giving tentative dates because I never follow them XD). So yeah. I haven't abandoned this story, not by a long shot. Just keep a look out for new chapters every once in a while.

THANKS FOR YOUR CONSTANT SUPPORT! :)


	42. Chapter 40: Bark & Bite

**Chapter 40: Bark & Bite**

I gazed on as the girl, now known to me as Max, jumped over the railing of the staircase and landed gracefully on the balls of her feet. She stood up to her full height, actually rolling her shoulders in the process, exuding an obvious air of confidence. Almost like Alyssa.

I analyzed her out of instinct. Tanned skin, which was a little bit lighter than Nudge's, about as tall as I was, and wings covered with different tones of browns mixed with an off-white color, much like an hawk. Not only that, but she was pretty. Really pretty. She would be a real looker if she mingled with normal people. That is, if they didn't notice her toned arms and legs, which were completely exposed by her simple black shorts and white t-shirt ensemble. Actually, scratch that. She would still have guys chasing after her, even if they felt inferior and less manly in her presence.

_Why do I get the feeling that we won't get along_, I thought as she looked toward us.

"Max, I was just about to call you. We have company that I thought you might want to see," said Jake, his voice and facial expressions completely under his control once more. I stared at him in astonishment.

_How did he get so calm all of a sudden? Is she pulling his strings or something?_

"So I noticed," Max said as she ambled toward us. "Wait. One of them is missing. Where's the blond shrimp?"

"You don't need to concern yourself over her. She is being dealt with," Jake quickly replied.

Max let out a snort. "Yeah right. That sounds like something you would say when you _don't _have the situation under control. Did you manage to even get her?" Jake clenched his jaw but didn't respond to her question.

_Ah, I get it now. There's a power struggle between them._

"Max...you should...we thought you were dead," stuttered Nudge, still unable to take her bewildered stare away from Max's face.

"I was just about to say the same thing to you guys. I have to give you props for surviving this long. You probably wouldn't be here if I was out and about, but then again, I've been under some crappy management lately," replied Max in a matter-of-fact tone as she glanced in Jake's direction. Jake ignored the comment as if Max hadn't even opened her mouth. Instead, he glanced over at the three Erasers that were holding Nudge, Iggy, and Gazzy.

"Well, now that introductions are over with, take those three downstairs."

I gritted my teeth. I should have known that he would separate us.

"Sir," spoke up one Eraser. "The dog?" He raised up the silent bag that Total was in. Jake turned his attention to him with annoyance clearly etched in his face, like a teacher when a student asks them a dumb question.

"Just kill him."

I blanched. Gazzy began struggling against his captor as the Eraser started pulling him away from the line. Nudge was giving more of a fight; her Eraser had to pull her by the chains on her wrists and drag her on the ground as she flailed her legs, yelling the word "no" repeatedly while tears streaked down her cheeks. I watched anxiously with a cluster of thoughts running through my mind as the Erasers made their way to an area behind the couch.

_Where are they taking them? There's only two doors out of here and they're not using any of them. Is there a trap door in here? And what about Total? Will they really kill him?_

I looked toward Jake, actually placing my hopes on the idea that he would change his brash decision. His back was turned toward us as he talked to some of his idle Erasers and Max, who looked absolutely bored with the conversation. I mentally cursed at my situation, at myself for even depending on Jake for a fraction of a second, and especially at my inability to do anything at all. Lowering my head in frustration, my eyes scanned the intricately colored tiled floor, mixed with many different hues of copper and ivory, as if somehow the tiles themselves would give me an answer to the dilemma that I was in.

_I can't use any of my powers right now, especially not my 'third hand' to crush all of them. I'm mentally drained. I can't afford to pass out here. I just have to depend on brute force, which won't last long against this many people. Maybe if I struggle out of Leo's grasp, I'll be able to save Total at the very least...but they wouldn't really kill him so soon, would they? Maybe they will hold him captive for a little bit. That might give me some time to come up with a good plan..._

_That's a whole lot of maybe's. What it really comes down to is how vicious this batch of Erasers are..._

I looked up then, watching the Eraser that was following behind the other three and carrying Total in that small burlap sack slung over his shoulder as if he was some kind of sacrifice that he was bringing back home from a long day of hunting. Other than his already grotesque wolfish figure, however, he didn't look as if he was interested at all. The features on his face oozed with indifference. I didn't want to look into his mind to see what he was really thinking - it was too much of a risk - so I began to place my hopes on those maybe's.

_He's just a dog. They really want to get their hands on us. He'll hold no interest to them, so they'll leave him alone._

At that moment, I caught a brief smile off of the Eraser's face. His smirk showed his wolfish canines, and it almost looked like he was salivating. He even kept flexing his free hand and tapping his growing nails on his pant leg in impatience. It was then that I knew what they were going to do to him. They weren't just planning on killing Total. They were going to torture him slowly, and maybe even rip him to shreds before taking his last breath.

If Leo hadn't anticipated that I would try to make a break for it sooner or later, I would have bolted right out of his grasp and dashed towards my friends that were being led away. Instead, he wrapped the chain that was connected to my handcuffs around his hand to limit how far I could go and even placed his free hand on my shoulder with an unyielding grip. Even with all of that, he still had to force me on my knees in order to gain control as I continued to struggle.

"If your mutts touch one hair on Total, I swear to God I will!-" I hollered toward Jake's back. He rapidly turned and glared at me.

"What! What can you do, huh?!" he snapped back. The entourage of Erasers that were escorting my friends out froze in place and watched the scene, but I wasn't paying too much attention to them. With no response ready at the tip of my tongue to lash out to him, I closed my mouth.

He was right. What could I do at the moment? I was pretty much incapacitated, with not enough energy to use any of my powers and not enough physical power to fight them all. And I knew that I was disregarding my earlier plan to not start a fight, but things had changed drastically. No one was supposed to die in the process. But I hated that he was right! So I returned his glare, silently wishing that he would back down and change his mind. Complete silence had fallen over all of us at that moment. All I could hear was the thrumming of my own pumping heart. But no matter how stubborn Jake wanted to be, there was no way that I was going to let him win - a fact that was proven seconds later when his gaze slowly but surely softened.

And then Max started clapping.

"Oh, just look at the little runt. Are you frustrated that you can't do anything?" mocked Max as she passed by Jake and strolled over to me. I stared at her feet as she finally came to a halt in front of me, but not being satisfied with just looming over my body, she leaned down and grabbed my chin in her hand so that I had no other choice but to turn my glare on her face. "The wittle baby looks like she's gonna cwy."

I yanked my chin away from her grasp just before gathering a large amount of saliva in my mouth and letting it out right in her face. Max froze, unable to conceive that there was fluid running down her face. She abruptly stood up, angrily wiping my spit off in the process, and made her way toward the Erasers and their fugitives. She grabbed the bag that Total was in from one of the Erasers, took the metal bar that he was also holding, then looked dismissively at the other two. "You can take the other two brats away," she directed. They followed orders and stood on what seemed to be a part of the floor, but soon lowered itself with only a small humming sound that indicated that gears were even working in the first place.

Swiveling back in my direction, she pulled opened the bag and pulled out Total's head. "I knew you were stupid, but I never thought that you would try to pick a fight with me over this little piece of shit," she spat out angrily. Total's eyes were closed, and I could only hope that he had fallen unconscious from the lack of oxygen in the bag. "I'll show you the price of messing with me."

Turning back on her heel, she tossed the bag to the nearest unoccupied Eraser. He easily caught it, but held the bag with apprehension, unsure what exactly he was supposed to do with it. Max walked towards me, coming so close that I would grab her if I wasn't restrained, and sneered in my direction. "All right, batter up!" she exclaimed as she got into position and started practicing her swings with the metal bar. The Eraser, now understanding Max's motive, grinned maliciously while aligning himself with her and prepared to throw the bag that Total was in like a baseball.

"Max, stop this!" cried out Fang. He managed to shrug off his captor's hand off of one shoulder, only for it to be grabbed again more fiercely.

"Fang, you stay out of this," replied Max. She glanced back to look at me once more and smiled before sweetly saying, "This is just between us girls."

"Please...please don't," I begged, sounding mousy even to myself. She ignored me and turned her attention back to the Eraser with a gloating grin on her face. I hung my head, unable to watch what was about to happen. _I caused this. I brought it to this point, and now I can't do anything to stop it. I'm so weak. Total, I'm so sorry..._

"Enough."

My head snapped back up and right in front of me stood Jake standing behind Max and holding the top half of the metal pipe so that she couldn't swing it. She spun around to face him while still clenching the bottom half of the pipe as if it was her toy. "What the hell are you doing?!" she flared.

"I'm ending this," Jake calmly stated as he gazed down at her with cold eyes.

"Why?! Just look at how pathetic she is! I was about to break her, and you want to step in and ruin my fun? I don't think so." Max tugged at the pipe, but it wouldn't budge any closer to her. "You better let go if you know what's good for you."

There was nothing but silence for only a short moment before the half that Jake was holding suddenly broke off and fell to the ground with a resounding 'clank'.

"I said, enough."

There was no falter in his tone. This was an absolute command. Max flinched as the metal made contact with the ground and stepped away from Jake's overbearing figure. She clutched what was left of the pipe tighter before regaining her composure once more.

"Pathetic." She finally tossed the pipe away and stormed past Jake toward the stairs without looking back at any of us, like a child throwing a tantrum. After Max had walked through the door, Jake sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed.

"Get them out of here."

.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.


	43. Chapter 41: The Ball Begins To Roll

**Chapter 41: The Ball Begins To Roll**

~Leo's P.O.V. ~

An itch on my shoulder had started to irritate me as soon as Jake walked around the corner and down the hall in my direction. He was wearing that same distressed face filled with anger, frustration, and worry that he had when he sent away Ember and her group. If he kept making that face, it might actually stay that way.

"How is she?" he asked for the third time today as he came to a stop in front of me. His voice was completely normal, as if he had control of the situation, but his eyes told the story of one that was very weary.

Poor guy. Fretting over what he can't have. I put on my best poker face to not show my pity.

"She's still asleep. It's been silent as the dead in there."

He glared at me for my choice of words, but I looked neither unapologetic nor did I retract my statement. He didn't have enough energy to expend on something as arbitrary as this, so he just sighed and furrowed his brow while massaging the bridge of his nose.

"It's been almost a day and a half. That's not normal is it?" Jake fretted, more to himself than to me.

I answered anyway. "I really couldn't tell you."

He sighed again and looked up to gaze longingly at the large pine door behind me that I was guarding - the one that he knew that I _definitely _knew that he could easily push me aside, knock the doors off of its hinges with his monstrous strength, and see her there, sleeping in that room in the huge king sized bed and rose colored satin sheets that he specifically picked out for her. And yet he couldn't. Because he was forbidden to do so by _Him_.

"You're here again?" called out a patronizing voice.

Jake's head swiveled around toward the sound like a child being caught stealing a cookie. Out stepped Max from the shadows with a deep frown etched on her face as well. She had been watching Jake from around the corner for who knows how long, probably seething until she couldn't help but say something.

Seeing that it was only Max, the tension in Jake's shoulders immediately evaporated. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a disinterested tone.

"I would ask you the same thing. I'm not the one who was forbidden from any type of interaction with her."

"Does it look like I'm interacting?"

Max crossed her arms over her chest with a look of disgust. "You're looking more and more pathetic by the second."

Jake sent a glare her way. "What is your problem?"

"My _problem_ is YOU! You're a push-over and you're irritating me!" Max roared.

"You're just upset that I stopped you from doing anything."

"I'm more than upset! I'm f-ing pissed! When _He_ gave the order, he didn't say to treat her like the f-ing Queen of England!"

Jake advanced toward Max, backing her against the wall next to the door. Even as mad as he was getting, I could tell that he was still holding back his true strength when he slammed his fist into the wall near Max's head and it didn't break through. "_He_ said that I could do it my way."

She didn't flinch at all; instead, she scoffed and glowered up at him before getting closer to his face as well, refusing to back down. "Look here. I don't know how many times they brainwashed you to believe that you are some hot shot prince or why they did it, but you have _no_ control over me. You're just a brat who thinks he's important. _He_ may as well have let me deal with this; this chick would have been caught and dealt with ages ago."

I pretended as if I wasn't interested in their conversation, but it was very hard to when Jake lost his facial composure and seemed both confused and irritated as Max made hard jabs at both his pride and ego.

"I know what you're trying to do, though," she continued as she picked at a piece of lint off of his shirt and observed it as if it was something quite interesting. "You're trying to make her willingly come to you; for her to run into your open arms and you both live happily ever after. Am I right?'' She looked back at Jake, but he stubbornly turned his head away. "Let me set you straight right now. It's not gonna happen. So just give it up, be a good boy, and do what you're told. And another thing."

Max grabbed his chin and forced Jake to look at her. "If you ever get in my way and ruin my fun again, I will slaughter you, no matter how strong you are." The short silence between them that Max's threat had created was disrupted, however, by several crashing sounds from behind the door, along with loud grunts and frustrated outcries. "Sounds like your fair princess is wide-eyed and bushy-browed," Max stated rather enthusiastically.

Jake wrenched his chin out of her gasp before stepping away from her all together. He watched the door once more, listening to the sounds of things being destroyed before clenching his fist and walking away from both of us. Max watched with a smirk at Jake's retreating figure as we walked down the hall.

"Well, it seems as if she's calmed down," Max noted about a minute later when the noise from behind the door had died down. "Now that the wet towel is gone, maybe I can finally have some fun." She made a move toward the door, but I didn't budge from my post. Max gave me a hard look; I responded with a yawn out of boredom. "I don't like you," she stated.

"I'm sorry," I replied indifferently.

"Move," Max demanded, using the same hostile tone that she used against Jake. I stared back, quite unaffected by her tactic, but stepped aside anyway to avoid a big confrontation. She paused at the door with one hand on the knob and, almost as an afterthought, turned her attention to me once more. "Just because you've been here longer and your _His_ favorite watchdog, don't think for a second that I won't hesitate to put you in your place," she warned before finally opening the door and walking in.

A large yawn emanated from me as the doors closed behind her. The itch that had started to die down after Jake had left had begun to flare up again. I gazed up at the camera across the hall that was positioned to watch the perimeters at the door and my every movement. And yet, even now, I knew that no one would be paying attention to the video feed in the control room. There was an even better chance that no one was in there at all, especially not when they had new play things in their vicinity.

I sighed, thinking of the chaos that would surely ensue in about an hour's time, and most importantly, my role in making it happen. "What a hassle," I muttered, hands in both pockets, as I walked away from my assigned post to get to work and set things in motion.


End file.
